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Title: Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Creator(s): Jamieson, Robert
Print Basis: 1871
Rights: Public Domain
CCEL Subjects: All; Bible; Proofed
LC Call no: BS491.J3
LC Subjects:
The Bible
Works about the Bible
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Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, and David Brown
1871
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INTRODUCTION
TO THE PENTATEUCH AND HISTORICAL BOOKS
by Robert Jamieson
The Pentateuch, the name by which the first five books of the Bible are
designated, is derived from two Greek words, pente, "five," and
teuchos, a "volume," thus signifying the fivefold volume. Originally
these books formed one continuous work, as in the Hebrew manuscripts
they are still connected in one unbroken roll. At what time they were
divided into five portions, each having a separate title, is not known,
but it is certain that the distinction dates at or before the time of
the Septuagint translation. The names they bear in our English version
are borrowed from the Septuagint, and they were applied by those Greek
translators as descriptive of the principal subjects--the leading
contents of the respective books. In the later Scriptures they are
frequently comprehended under the general designation, The Law, The
Book of the Law, since, to give a detailed account of the preparations
for, and the delivery of, the divine code, with all the civil and
sacred institutions that were peculiar to the ancient economy, is the
object to which they are exclusively devoted. They have always been
placed at the beginning of the Bible, not only on account of their
priority in point of time, but as forming an appropriate and
indispensable introduction to the rest of the sacred books. The
numerous and oft-recurring references made in the later Scriptures to
the events, the ritual, and the doctrines of the ancient Church would
have not only lost much of their point and significance, but have been
absolutely unintelligible without the information which these five
books contain. They constitute the groundwork or basis on which the
whole fabric of revelation rests, and a knowledge of the authority and
importance that is thus attached to them will sufficiently account for
the determined assaults that infidels have made on these books, as well
as for the zeal and earnestness which the friends of the truth have
displayed in their defense.
The Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch is established by the concurring
voices both of Jewish and Christian tradition; and their unanimous
testimony is supported by the internal character and statements of the
work itself. That Moses did keep a written record of the important
transactions relative to the Israelites is attested by his own express
affirmation. For in relating the victory over the Amalekites, which he
was commanded by divine authority to record, the language employed,
"write this for a memorial in a book" [Hebrew, the book], (Ex 17:14),
shows that that narrative was to form part of a register already in
progress, and various circumstances combine to prove that this register
was a continuous history of the special goodness and care of divine
providence in the choice, protection, and guidance of the Hebrew
nation. First, there are the repeated assertions of Moses himself that
the events which checkered the experience of that people were written
down as they occurred (see Ex 24:4-7; 34:27; Nu 33:2). Secondly, there
are the testimonies borne in various parts of the later historical
books to the Pentateuch as a work well known, and familiar to all the
people (see Jos 1:8; 8:34; 23:6; 24:26; 1Ki 2:3, &c.) Thirdly, frequent
references are made in the works of the prophets to the facts recorded
in the books of Moses (compare Isa 1:9 with Ge 19:1; Isa 12:2 with Ex
15:2; Isa 51:2 with Ge 12:2; Isa 54:9 with Ge 8:21, 22; compare Ho 9:10
with Nu 25:3; Ho 11:8 with Ge 19:24; Ho 12:4 with Ge 32:24, 25; Ho
12:12 with Ge 28:5; 29:20; compare Joe 1:9 with Nu 15:4-7; 28:7-14; De
12:6, 7; 16:10, 11; compare Am 2:9 with Nu 21:21; Am 4:4 with Nu 28:3;
Am 4:11 with Ge 19:24; Am 9:13 with Le 26:5; compare Mic 6:5 with Nu
22:25; Mic 6:6 with Le 9:2; Mic 6:15 with Le 26:16, &c.) Fourthly, the
testimony of Christ and the Apostles is repeatedly borne to the books
of Moses (Mt 19:7; Lu 16:29; 24:27; Joh 1:17; 7:19; Ac 3:22; 28:23; Ro
10:5). Indeed the references are so numerous, and the testimonies so
distinctly borne to the existence of the Mosaic books throughout the
whole history of the Jewish nation, and the unity of character, design,
and style pervading these books is so clearly perceptible,
notwithstanding the rationalistic assertions of their forming a series
of separate and unconnected fragments, that it may with all safety be
said, there is immensely stronger and more varied evidence in proof of
their being the authorship of Moses than of any of the Greek or Roman
classics being the productions of the authors whose names they bear.
But admitting that the Pentateuch was written by Moses, an important
question arises, as to whether the books which compose it have reached
us in an authentic form; whether they exist genuine and entire as they
came from the hands of their author. In answer to this question, it
might be sufficient to state that, in the public and periodical
rehearsals of the law in the solemn religious assemblies of the people,
implying the existence of numerous copies, provision was made for
preserving the integrity of "The Book of the Law." But besides this,
two remarkable facts, the one of which occurred before and the other
after the captivity, afford conclusive evidence of the genuineness and
authenticity of the Pentateuch. The first is the discovery in the reign
of Josiah of the autograph copy which was deposited by Moses in the ark
of the testimony, and the second is the schism of the Samaritans, who
erected a temple on Mount Gerizim, and who, appealing to the Mosaic law
as the standard of their faith and worship equally with the Jews,
watched with jealous care over every circumstance that could affect the
purity of the Mosaic record. There is the strongest reason, then, for
believing that the Pentateuch, as it exists now, is substantially the
same as it came from the hands of Moses. The appearance of a later
hand, it is true, is traceable in the narrative of the death of Moses
at the close of Deuteronomy, and some few interpolations, such as
inserting the altered names of places, may have been made by Ezra, who
revised and corrected the version of the ancient Scriptures. But,
substantially, the Pentateuch is the genuine work of Moses, and many,
who once impugned its claims to that character, and looked upon it as
the production of a later age, have found themselves compelled, after a
full and unprejudiced investigation of the subject, to proclaim their
conviction that its authenticity is to be fully relied on.
The genuineness and authenticity of the Pentateuch being admitted, the
inspiration and canonical authority of the work follow as a necessary
consequence. The admission of Moses to the privilege of frequent and
direct communion with God (Ex 25:22; 33:3; Nu 7:89; 9:8); his repeated
and solemn declarations that he spoke and wrote by command of God; the
submissive reverence that was paid to the authority of his precepts by
all classes of the Jewish people, including the king himself (De 17:18;
27:3); and the acknowledgment of the divine mission of Moses by the
writers of the New Testament, all prove the inspired character and
authority of his books. The Pentateuch possessed the strongest claims
on the attention of the Jewish people, as forming the standard of their
faith, the rule of their obedience, the record of their whole civil and
religious polity. But it is interesting and important to all mankind,
inasmuch as besides revealing the origin and early development of the
divine plan of grace, it is the source of all authentic knowledge,
giving the true philosophy, history, geography, and chronology of the
ancient world. Finally, the Pentateuch "is indispensable to the whole
revelation contained in the Bible; for Genesis being the legitimate
preface to the law; the law being the natural introduction to the Old
Testament; and the whole a prelude to the gospel revelation, it could
not have been omitted. What the four Gospels are in the New, the five
books of Moses are in the Old Testament."
Genesis, the book of the origin or production of all things, consists
of two parts: the first, comprehended in the first through eleventh
chapters, gives a general history; the second, contained in the
subsequent chapters, gives a special history. The two parts are
essentially connected; the one, which sets out with an account of the
descent of the human race from a single pair, the introduction of sin
into the world, and the announcement of the scheme of divine mercy for
repairing the ruins of the fall, was necessary to pave the way for
relating the other, namely, the call of Abraham, and the selection of
his posterity for carrying out the gracious purpose of God. An evident
unity of method, therefore, pervades this book, and the information
contained in it was of the greatest importance to the Hebrew people, as
without it they could not have understood the frequent references made
in their law to the purposes and promises of God regarding themselves.
The arguments that have been already adduced as establishing the Mosaic
origin of the Pentateuch prove of course that Moses was the author of
Genesis. The few passages on which the rationalists grounded their
assertions that it was the composition of a later age have been
successfully shown to warrant no such conclusion; the use of Egyptian
words and the minute acquaintance with Egyptian life and manners,
displayed in the history of Joseph, harmonize with the education of
Moses, and whether he received his information by immediate revelation,
from tradition, or from written documents, it comes to us as the
authentic work of an author who wrote as he was inspired by the Holy
Ghost (2Pe 1:21).
Exodus, a "going forth," derives its name from its being occupied
principally with a relation of the departure of the Israelites from
Egypt, and the incidents that immediately preceded as well as followed
that memorable migration. Its authorship by Moses is distinctly
asserted by himself (Ex 24:4), as well as by our Lord (Mr 12:26; Lu
20:37). Besides, the thorough knowledge it exhibits of the institutions
and usages of the ancient Egyptians and the minute geographical details
of the journey to Sinai, establish in the clearest manner the
authenticity of this book.
Leviticus. So called from its treating of the laws relating to the
ritual, the services, and sacrifices of the Jewish religion, the
superintendence of which was entrusted to the Levitical priesthood. It
is chiefly, however, the duties of the priests, "the sons of Aaron,"
which this book describes; and its claim to be the work of Moses is
established by the following passages:--2Ch 30:16; Ne 8:14; Jer
7:22-23; Eze 20:11 Mt 8:4; Lu 2:22; Joh 8:5; Ro 10:4; 13:9; 2Co 6:16;
Ga 3:12; 1Pe 1:16.
Numbers. This book is so called because it contains an account of the
enumeration and arrangement of the Israelites. The early part of it,
from the first through the tenth chapters, appears to be a supplement
to Leviticus, being occupied with relating the appointment of the
Levites to the sacred offices. The journal of the march through the
wilderness is then given as far as Nu 21:20; after which the early
incidents of the invasion are narrated. One direct quotation only from
this book (Nu 16:5) is made in the New Testament (2Ti 2:19); but
indirect references to it by the later sacred writers are very
numerous.
Deuteronomy, the second law, a title which plainly shows what is the
object of this book, namely, a recapitulation of the law. It was given
in the form of public addresses to the people; and as Moses spoke in
the prospect of his speedy removal, he enforced obedience to it by many
forcible appeals to the Israelites, concerning their long and varied
experience both of the mercies and the judgments of God. The minute
notices of the heathen people with whom they had come in contact, but
who afterward disappeared from the pages of history, as well as the
accounts of the fertility and products of Canaan, and the counsels
respecting the conquest of that country, fix the date of this book and
the time of its composition by the hand of Moses. The close, however,
must have been added by another; and, indeed, it is supposed by some to
have formed the original preface to the Book of Joshua.
Joshua. The title of this book is derived from the pious and valiant
leader whose achievements it relates and who is commonly supposed to
have been its author. The objections to this idea are founded chiefly
on the clause, "unto this day," which occurs several times (Jos 4:9;
6:25; 8:28). But this, at least in the case of Rahab, is no valid
reason for rejecting the idea of his authorship; for assuming what is
most probable, that this book was composed toward the close of Joshua's
long career, or compiled from written documents left by him, Rahab
might have been still alive. A more simple and satisfactory way of
accounting for the frequent insertion of the clause, "unto this day,"
is the opinion that it was a comment introduced by Ezra, when revising
the sacred canon; and this difficulty being removed, the direct proofs
of the book having been produced by a witness of the transactions
related in it, the strong and vivid descriptions of the passing scenes,
and the use of the words "we" and "us," (Jos 5:1-6), viewed in
connection with the fact, that, after his farewell address to the
people, Joshua "wrote these words in the book of the law of God" [Jos
24:26]--all afford strong presumptive proof that the entire book was
the work of that eminent individual. Its inspiration and canonical
authority are fully established by the repeated testimonies of other
Scripture writers (compare Jos 6:26 with 1Ki 16:34; compare Jos 10:13
with Hab 3:11; Jos 3:14 with Ac 7:45; Jos 6:17-23 with Heb 11:30; Jos
2:1-24 with Jas 2:25; Ps 44:2; 68:12-14; 78:54-55). As a narrative of
God's faithfulness in giving the Israelites possession of the promised
land, this history is most valuable, and bears the same character as a
sequel to the Pentateuch, that the Acts of the Apostles do to the
Gospels.
Judges is the title given to the next book, from its containing the
history of those non-regal rulers who governed the Hebrews from the
time of Joshua to that of Eli, and whose functions in time of peace
consisted chiefly in the administration of justice, although they
occasionally led the people in their wars against their public enemies.
The date and authorship of this book are not precisely known. It is
certain, however, that it preceded the Second Book of Samuel (compare
Jud 9:35 with 2Sa 11:21), as well as the conquest of Jerusalem by David
(compare Jud 1:21 with 2Sa 5:6). Its author was in all probability
Samuel, the last of the judges (see Jud 19:1; 21:25), and the date of
the first part of it is fixed in the reign of Saul, while the five
chapters at the close might not have been written till after David's
establishment as king in Israel (see Jud 18:31). It is a fragmentary
history, being a collection of important facts and signal deliverances
at different times and in various parts of the land, during the
intermediate period of three hundred years between Joshua and the
establishment of the monarchy. The inspired character of this book is
confirmed by allusions to it in many passages of Scripture (compare Jud
4:2; 6:14 with 1Sa 12:9-12; Jud 9:53 with 2Sa 11:21; Jud 7:25 with Ps
83:11; compare Jud 5:4, 5 with Ps 7:5; Jud 13:5; 16:17 with Mt 2:13-23;
Ac 13:20; Heb 11:32).
Ruth is properly a supplement to the preceding book, to which, in fact,
it was appended in the ancient Jewish canon. Although it relates an
episode belonging to the time of the Judges, its precise date is
unknown. It appears certain, however, that it could not have been
written prior to the time of Samuel (see Ru 4:17-22), who is generally
supposed to have been its author; and this opinion, in addition to
other reasons on which it rests, is confirmed by Ru 4:7, where it is
evident that the history was not compiled till long after the
transactions recorded. The inspiration and canonical authority of the
book is attested by the fact of Ruth's name being inserted by Matthew
in the Saviour's genealogy [Mt 1:5].
The First and Second Books of Samuel. The two were, by the ancient
Jews, conjoined so as to make one book, and in that form could be
called the Book of Samuel with more propriety than now, the second
being wholly occupied with the relation of transactions that did not
take place till after the death of that eminent judge. Accordingly, in
the Septuagint and the Vulgate, it is called the First and Second Books
of Kings. The early portion of the First Book, down to the end of the
twenty-fourth chapter, was probably written by Samuel; while the rest
of it and the whole of the Second, are commonly ascribed to Nathan and
Gad, founding the opinion on 1Ch 29:29. Commentators, however, are
divided about this, some supposing that the statements in 1Sa 2:26;
3:1, indicate the hand of the judge himself, or a contemporary; while
some think, from 1Sa 6:18; 12:5; 27:6, that its composition must be
referred to a later age. It is probable, however, that these supposed
marks of an after-period were interpolations of Ezra. This uncertainty,
however, as to the authorship does not affect the inspired authority of
the book, which is indisputable, being quoted in the New Testament (1Sa
13:14 in Ac 13:22, and 2Sa 7:14 in Heb 1:5), as well as in many of the
Psalms.
The First and Second Books of Kings, in the ancient copies of the
Hebrew Bible, constitute one book. Various titles have been given them;
in the Septuagint and the Vulgate they are called the Third and Fourth
Books of Kings. The authorship of these books is unknown; but the
prevailing opinion is that they were compiled by Ezra, or one of the
later prophets, from the ancient documents that are so frequently
referred to in the course of the history as of public and established
authority. Their inspired character was acknowledged by the Jewish
Church, which ranked them in the sacred canon; and, besides, it is
attested by our Lord, who frequently quotes from them (compare 1Ki
17:9; 2Ki 5:14 with Lu 4:24-27; 1Ki 10:1 with Mt 12:42).
The First and Second Books of Chronicles were also considered as one by
the ancient Jews, who called them "words of days," that is, diaries or
journals, being probably compiled from those registers that were kept
by the king's historiographers of passing occurrences. In the
Septuagint the title given them is Paraleipomenon, "of things omitted,"
that is, the books are supplementary because many things unnoticed in
the former books are here recorded; and not only the omissions are
supplied, but some narratives extended while others are added. The
authorship is commonly ascribed to Ezra, whose leading object seems to
have been to show the division of families, possessions, &c., before
the captivity, with a view to the exact restoration of the same order
after the return from Babylon. Although many things are restated and
others are exact repetitions of what is contained in Kings, there is so
much new and important information that, as Jerome has well said, the
Chronicles furnish the means of comprehending parts of the New
Testament, which must have been unintelligible without them. They are
frequently referred to by Christ and the Apostles as forming part of
"the Word of God" (see the genealogies in Mt 1:1-16; Lu 3:23-38;
compare 2Ch 19:7 with 1Pe 1:17; 2Ch 24:19-21 with Mt 23:32-35).
Ezra was, along with Nehemiah, reckoned one book by the ancient Jews,
who called them the First and Second Books of Ezra, and they are still
designated by Roman Catholic writers the First and Second Books of
Esdras. This book naturally divides itself into two parts or sections,
the one contained in the first six chapters, and which relates the
circumstances connected with the return of the first detachment of
Babylonish exiles under Zerubbabel with the consequent rebuilding of
the temple and the re-establishment of the divine service. The other
part, embraced in the four concluding chapters, narrates the journey of
a second caravan of returning captives under the conduct of Ezra
himself, who was invested with powers to restore, in all its splendor,
the entire system of the Jewish ritual. The general opinion of the
Church in every succeeding age has been that Ezra was the author of
this book. The chief objection is founded on Ezr 5:4, where the words,
"Then said we unto them after this manner, What are the names of the
men that make this building?" have occasioned a surmise that the first
portion of the book was not written by Ezra, who did not go to
Jerusalem for many years after. But a little attention will show the
futility of this objection, as the words in question did not refer to
the writer, but were used by Tatnai and his associates [Ezr 5:3]. The
style and unity of object in the book clearly prove it to have been the
production of but one author. The canonical authority of this book is
well established; but another under the name of Ezra is rejected as
apocryphal.
Nehemiah appears to have been the author of this book, from his usually
writing in his own name, and indeed, except in those parts which are
unmistakably later editions or borrowed from public documents, he
usually employs the first person. The major portion of the book is
occupied with a history of Nehemiah's twelve years' administration in
Jerusalem, after which he returned to his duties in Shushan. At a later
period he returned with new powers and commenced new and vigorous
measures of reform, which are detailed in the later chapters of the
book.
Esther derives its name from the Jewess, who, having become wife of the
king of Persia, employed her royal influence to effect a memorable
deliverance for the persecuted Church of God. Various opinions are
embraced and supported as to the authorship of this book, some
ascribing it to Ezra, to Nehemiah, or to Mordecai. The preponderance of
authorities is in favor of the last. The historical character of the
book is undoubted, since, besides many internal evidences, its
authenticity is proved by the strong testimony of the feast of Purim,
the celebration of which can be traced up to the events which are
described in this book. Its claim, however, to canonical authority has
been questioned on the ground that the name of God does not once occur
in it. But the uniform tradition both of the Jewish and the Christian
Churches supports this claim, which nothing in the book tends to shake;
while it is a record of the superintending care of divine providence
over his chosen people, with which it is of the utmost importance the
Church should be furnished. The name of God is strangely enough
omitted, but the presence of God is felt throughout the history; and
the whole tone and tendency of the book is so decidedly subservient to
the honor of God and the cause of true religion that it has been
generally received by the Church in all ages into the sacred canon.
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INTRODUCTION
TO THE POETICAL BOOKS
by A. R. Faussett
Hebrew poetry is unique in its kind; in essence, the most sublime; in
form, marked by a simplicity and ease which flow from its sublimity.
"The Spirit of the Lord spake by me [the Hebrew poet], and his word was
in my tongue" (2Sa 23:2). Even the music was put under the charge of
spiritually gifted men; and one of the chief musicians, Heman, is
called "the king's seer in the words of God" (1Ch 25:1, 5). King David
is stated to have invented instruments of music (Am 6:5). There is not
in Hebrew poetry the artistic rhythm of form which appears in the
classical poetry of Greece and Rome, but it amply makes up for this by
its fresh and graceful naturalness.
Early specimens of Hebrew poetry occur; for example, Lamech's skeptical
parody of Enoch's prophecy, or, as others think, lamentation for a
homicide committed in those lawless times in self-defense (Ge 4:23;
compare Jude 14; Ex 32:18; Nu 21:14, 15, 17, 18, 27 Nu 23:7, 8, 18;
24:3, 15). The poetical element appears much more in the Old than in
the New Testament. The poetical books are exclusively those of the Old
Testament; and in the Old Testament itself, the portions that are the
most fundamental (for example, the Pentateuch of Moses, the lawgiver,
in its main body), are those which have in them least of the poetical
element in form. Elijah, the father of the prophets, is quite free of
poetical art. The succeeding prophets were not strictly poets, except
in so far as the ecstatic state in inspiration lifted them to poetic
modes of thought and expression. The prophet was more of an inspired
teacher than a poet. It is when the sacred writer acts as the
representative of the personal experiences of the children of God and
of the Church, that poetry finds its proper sphere.
The use of poetry in Scripture was particularly to supply the want not
provided for by the law, namely, of devotional forms to express in
private, and in public joint worship, the feelings of pious Israelites.
The schools of the prophets fostered and diffused a religious spirit
among the people; and we find them using lyric instruments to accompany
their prophesyings (1Sa 10:5). However, it was David, who specially
matured the lyric effusions of devotion into a perfection which they
had not before attained.
Another purpose which Psalmody, through David's inspired productions,
served, was to draw forth from under the typical forms of legal
services their hidden essence and spirit, adapting them to the various
spiritual exigencies of individual and congregational life. Nature,
too, is in them shown to speak the glory and goodness of the invisible,
yet ever present God. A handbook of devotion was furnished to the
Israelite whereby he could enter into the true spirit of the services
of the sanctuary, and so feel the need of that coming Messiah, of whom
especially the Book of Psalms testifies throughout. We also, in our
Christian dispensation, need its help in our devotions. Obliged as we
are, notwithstanding our higher privileges in most respects, to walk by
faith rather than by sight in a greater degree than they, we find the
Psalms, with their realizing expression of the felt nearness of God,
the best repertory whence to draw divinely sanctioned language,
wherewith to express our prayers and thanksgivings to God, and our
breathings after holy communion with our fellow saints.
As to the objection raised against the spirit of revenge which breathes
in some psalms, the answer is: a wide distinction is to be drawn
between personal vindictiveness and the desire for God's honor being
vindicated. Personal revenge, not only in the other parts of Scripture,
but also in the Psalms, in theory and in practice, is alike reprobated
(Ex 23:4, 5; Le 19:18; Job 31:29, 30; Ps 7:4, 5, 8, 11, 12; Pr 25:21,
22), which corresponds to David's practice in the case of his
unrelenting enemy (1Sa 24:5-6; 26:8-10). On the other hand, the people
of God have always desired that whatever mars the cause of God, as for
instance the prosperity of the enemies of God and His Church, should be
brought to an end (Ps 10:12; 35:27; 40:16; 79:6, 10). It is well for
us, too, in our dispensation of love, to be reminded by these psalms of
the danger of lax views as to God's hatred of sin; and of the need
there is that we should altogether enter into the mind of God on such
points at the same time that we seek to convert all men to God (compare
1Sa 16:1; Ps 139:21; Isa 66:24; Re 14:10).
Some psalms are composed of twenty-two parallel sentences or strophes
of verses, beginning with words of which the initial letters correspond
with the Hebrew letters (twenty-two) in their order (compare Ps 37:1-40
and Ps 119:1-176). So also Lamentations. This arrangement was designed
as a help to the memory and is found only in such compositions as do
not handle a distinct and progressive subject, but a series of pious
reflections, in the case of which the precise order was of less moment.
The Psalmist in adopting it does not slavishly follow it; but, as in
Psalm 25, he deviates from it, so as to make the form, when needful,
bend to the sense. Of these poems there are twelve in all in the Hebrew
Bible (Ps 25:1-22; 34:1-22; 37:1-40; 111:1-10; 112:1-10; 119:1-176;
145:1-21 Pr 31:10-31; La 1:1-4:22).
The great excellence of the Hebrew principle of versification, namely,
parallelism, or "thought rhythm" [Ewald], is that, while the poetry of
every other language, whose versification depends on the regular
recurrences of certain sounds, suffers considerably by translation,
Hebrew poetry, whose rhythm depends on the parallel correspondence of
similar thoughts, loses almost nothing in being translated--the Holy
Spirit having thus presciently provided for its ultimate translation
into every language, without loss to the sense. Thus in our English
Version, Job and Psalms, though but translations, are eminently
poetical. On parallelism, see my Introduction to Job. Thus also a clue
is given to the meaning in many passages, the sense of the word in one
clause being more fully set forth by the corresponding word in the
succeeding parallel clause. In the Masoretic punctuation of the Hebrew,
the metrical arrangement is marked by the distinctive accents. It
accords with the divine inspiration of Scripture poetry, that the
thought is more prominent than the form, the kernel than the shell. The
Hebrew poetic rhythm resembled our blank verse, without, however,
metrical feet. There is a verbal rhythm above that of prose; but as the
true Hebrew pronunciation is lost, the rhythm is but imperfectly
recognized.
The peculiarity of the Hebrew poetical age is that it was always
historic and true, not mythical, as the early poetical ages of all
other nations. Again, its poetry is distinguished from prose by the use
of terms decidedly poetic. David's lament over Jonathan furnishes a
beautiful specimen of another feature found in Hebrew poetry, the
strophe: three strophes being marked by the recurrence three times of
the dirge sung by the chorus; the first dirge sung by the whole body of
singers, representing Israel; the second, by a chorus of damsels; the
third, by a chorus of youths (2Sa 1:17-27).
The lyrical poetry, which is the predominant style in the Bible and is
especially terse and sententious, seems to have come from an earlier
kind resembling the more modern Book of Proverbs (compare Ge 4:23, 24).
The Oriental mind tends to embody thought in pithy gnomes, maxims, and
proverbs. "The poetry of the Easterns is a string of pearls. Every word
has life. Every proposition is condensed wisdom. Every thought is
striking and epigrammatical" (Kitto, Biblical Cyclopædia). We are led
to the same inference from the term Maschal, a "proverb" or
"similitude," being used to designate poetry in general. "Hebrew
poetry, in its origin, was a painting to the eye, a parable or teaching
by likenesses discovered by the popular mind, expressed by the popular
tongue, and adopted and polished by the national poet." Solomon, under
inspiration, may have embodied in his Proverbs such of the pre-existing
popular wise sayings as were sanctioned by the Spirit of God.
The Hebrew title for the Psalms, Tehilim, means "hymns," that is,
joyous praises (sometimes accompanied with dancing, Ex 15:1-20; Jud
5:1-31), not exactly answering to the Septuagint title, Psalms, that
is, "lyrical odes," or songs accompanied by an instrument. The title,
Tehilim, "hymns," was probably adopted on account of the use made of
the Psalms in divine service, though only a part can be strictly called
songs of praise, others being dirges, and very many prayers (whence in
Ps 72:20, David styles all his previous compositions, the prayers of
David). Sixty-five bear the title, "lyrical odes" (Mizmorim), while
only one is styled Tehilah or "Hymn." From the title being Psalms in
the Septuagint and New Testament, and also in the Peshito, it is
probable that Psalms (Mizmorim) or "lyrical odes," was the old title
before Tehilim.
Epic poetry, as having its proper sphere in a mythical heroic age, has
no place among the Hebrews of the Old Testament Scripture age. For in
their earliest ages, namely, the patriarchal, not fable as in Greece,
Rome, Egypt, and all heathen nations, but truth and historic reality
reigned; so much so, that the poetic element, which is the offspring of
the imagination, is found less in those earlier, than in the later,
ages. The Pentateuch is almost throughout historic prose. In the
subsequent uninspired age, in Tobit we have some approach to the Epos.
Drama, also, in the full modern sense, is not found in Hebrew
literature. This was due, not to any want of intellectual culture, as
is fully shown by the high excellence of their lyric and didactic
poetry, but to their earnest character, and to the solemnity of the
subjects of their literature. The dramatic element appears in Job, more
than in any other book in the Bible; there are the dramatis personæ, a
plot, and the "denouement" prepared for by Elihu, the fourth friend's
speech, and brought about by the interposition of Jehovah Himself.
Still it is not a strict drama, but rather an inspired debate on a
difficult problem of the divine government exemplified in Job's case,
with historic narrative, prologue, and epilogue. The Song of Solomon,
too, has much of the dramatic cast. See my Introductions to Job and
Song of Solomon. The style of many psalms is very dramatic, transitions
often occurring from one to another person, without introduction, and
especially from speaking indirectly of God to addresses to God; thus in
Ps 32:1, 2, David makes a general introduction, "Blessed is the man
whose iniquity is forgiven," &c.; then in Ps 32:3-7, he passes to
addressing God directly; then in Ps 32:8, without preface God is
introduced, directly speaking, in answer to the previous prayer; then
in Ps 32:10, 11, again he resumes indirect speaking of God, and
addresses himself in conclusion to the righteous. These quick changes
of person do not startle us, but give us a stronger sense of his
habitual converse with God than any assertions could do. Compare also
in Ps 132:8-10, the prayer, "Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and
the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness;
and let thy saints shout for joy. For thy servant David's sake turn not
away the face of thine anointed," with God's direct answer, which
follows in almost the words of the prayer, "The Lord hath sworn unto
David," &c. [Ps 132:11-18]. "This is my rest for ever [Ps 132:14]. I
will clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout
aloud for joy." Thus also in the second Psalm, various personages are
introduced, dramatically acting and speaking--the confederate nations
[Ps 2:1-3], Jehovah [Ps 2:4-6], the Messiah [Ps 2:7-9], and the
Psalmist [Ps 2:10-12].
A frequent feature is the alternate succession of parts, adapting the
several psalms to alternate recitation by two semi-choruses in the
temple-worship, followed by a full chorus between the parts or at the
end. (So Ps 107:15, 21, 31). De Burgh, in his valuable commentary on
the Psalms, remarks, "Our cathedral service exemplifies the form of
chanting the Psalms, except that the semi-chorus is alternately a whole
verse, instead of alternating, as of old, the half verse; while the
full chorus is the 'gloria' at the end of each Psalm."
In conclusion, besides its unique point of excellence, its divine
inspiration, Hebrew poetry is characterized as being essentially
national, yet eminently catholic, speaking to the heart and spiritual
sensibilities of universal humanity. Simple and unconstrained, it is
distinguished by a natural freshness which is the result of its genuine
truthfulness. The Hebrew poet sought not self or his own fame, as did
heathen poets, but he was inspired by the Spirit of God to meet a
pressing want which his own and his nation's spiritual aspirations
after God made to be at once a necessity and a delight. Compare 2Sa
23:1, 2, "The sweet Psalmist of Israel said, The Spirit of the Lord
spake by me," &c.
Ewald rightly remarks that several odes of the highest poetic
excellence are not included (for example, the songs of Moses, Ex
15:1-19 and De 32:1-43; of Deborah, Jud 5:1-31; of Hannah, 1Sa 2:1-10;
of Hezekiah, Isa 38:9-20; of Habakkuk, Hab 3:1-19; and even David's
dirge over Saul and Jonathan, 2Sa 1:17-18). The selection of the Psalms
collected in one book was made not so much with reference to the beauty
of the pieces, as to their adaptation for public worship. Still one
overruling Spirit ordered the selection and arrangement of the contents
of the book, as one pervading tone and subject appear throughout,
Christ in His own inner life as the God-man, and in His past, present,
and future relations to the Church and the world. Isaac Taylor well
calls the Psalms, "The Liturgy of the spiritual life"; and Luther, "A
Bible in miniature."
The principle of the order in which the Psalms are given to us, though
not always discoverable, is in some cases clear, and shows the
arrangement to be unmistakably the work of the Spirit, not merely that
of the collector. Thus Psalm 22 plainly portrays the dying agonies of
Messiah; Psalm 23, His peaceful rest in Paradise after His death on the
cross; and Psalm 24, His glorious ascension into heaven.
__________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
TO THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS
by A. R. Faussett
This constitutes the second division, the others being the Law and
Hagiographa. It included Joshua, Judges, First and Second Samuel, First
and Second Kings, called the former prophets; and Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, &c., to Malachi, the latter prophets. Daniel is excluded,
because, though highly endowed with prophetic gifts, he had not filled
the prophetic office: his book is therefore classed with the
Hagiographa. Ezra probably commenced, and others subsequently
completed, the arrangement of the canon. The prophets were not mere
predictors. Their Hebrew name, nabi, comes from a root "to boil up as a
fountain" (Gesenius); hence the fervor of inspiration (2Pe 1:21).
Others interpret it as from an Arabic root (Ex 4:16, "spokesman" of
God, the Holy Ghost supplying him with words); communicated by dreams
(Joe 2:28; Job 33:14-17--no instance of this occurs in Isaiah); or
visions, the scene being made to pass before their mind (Isa 1:1); or
trance, ecstasy (Nu 24:4, 16; Eze 1:3; 3:14); not depriving them,
however, of free conscious agency (Jer 20:7, 9; 1Co 14:32).
These Peculiar Forms of inspiration distinguish prophets, strictly so
called, from Moses and others, though inspired (Nu 12:6-8). Hence their
name seers. Hence, too, the poetical cast of their style, though less
restricted, owing to their practical tendency, by the outward forms
observed in strictly poetical books. Hence, too, the union of music
with prophesying (1Sa 10:5). This ecstatic state, though exalted, is
not the highest: for Jesus Christ was never in it, nor Moses. It was
rendered necessary by the frailty of the prophets, and the spiritual
obtuseness of the people. It accordingly predominates in the Old
Testament, but is subordinate in the New Testament, where the Holy
Ghost by the fulness of His ordinary gifts renders the extraordinary
less necessary. After the time of the Mosaic economy, the idea of a
prophet was regularly connected with the prophetic office--not
conferred by men, but by God. In this they differ from mystics whose
pretended inspiration is for themselves: prophetism is practical, not
dreamy and secluded; the prophet's inspiration is theirs only as God's
messengers to the people. His ordinary servants and regular teachers of
the people were the priests; the prophets distinguished from them by
inspiration, were designed to rouse and excite. In Israel, however, as
distinguished from Judah (as there was no true priesthood) the prophets
were the regular and only ministers of God. Prophecy in Israel needed
to be supported more powerfully: therefore the "schools" were more
established; and more striking prophetic deeds (for example, Elijah's
and Elisha's) are recorded, than in Judah. The law was their basis (Isa
8:16, 20), both its form and spirit (De 4:2; 13:1-3); at times they
looked forward to a day when its ever-living spirit would break its
then imperfect form for a freer and more perfect development (Jer 3:16;
31:31); but they altered not a tittle in their own days. Eichorn well
calls Moses' song (De 32:1-47) the Magna Charta of prophecy. The
fulfilment of their predictions was to be the sign of their being real
prophets of God (De 18:22); also, their speaking in the name of no
other but the true God (De 18:20). Prophecy was the only sanctioned
indulgence of the craving after knowledge of future events, which is so
prevalent in the East (De 18:10, 11). For a momentary inspiration the
mere beginning of spiritual life sufficed, as in Balaam's case; but for
a continuous mission, the prophet must be converted (Isa 6:7). In
Samuel's days (1Sa 10:8; 19:20) begin the prophetic "schools." These
were associations of men, more or less endowed with the Spirit, in
which the feebler were helped by those of greater spiritual powers: so
at Beth-el and Gilgal (2Ki 2:3; 4:38; 6:21). Only the leaders stood in
immediate communion with God, while the rest were joined to Him through
their mediation (1Ki 19:15; 2Ki 8:13); the former acted through the
latter as their instruments (1Ki 19:16; 2Ki 9:1, 2). The bestowal of
prophetic gifts was not, however, limited to these schools (Am 7:14,
15).
As to Symbolic Actions, many of them are not actual but only parts of
the prophetic visions, internal not external facts, being impossible or
indecent (Jer 13:1-10; 25:12-38; Ho 1:2-11). Still the internal
actions, when possible and proper, were often expressed externally (1Ki
22:11). Those purely internal express the subject more strikingly than
a naked statement could.
Other Criteria of a true prophet, besides the two above, were, the
accordance of his addresses with the law; his not promising prosperity
without repentance; his own assurance of his divine mission (sometimes
received reluctantly, Jer 20:8, 9; 26:12), producing that inward
assurance of the truth in others, which is to them a stronger proof
from the Spirit of God, than even outward miracles and arguments: his
pious life, fortitude in suffering, and freedom from fanaticism,
confirm these criteria. Miracles, though proofs, are not to be trusted
without the negative criteria (De 13:2). Predictions fulfilled in the
prophet's lifetime established his authority thenceforth (1Sa 3:19; Jer
22:11-12; Eze 12:12,13; 24:1-27).
As to their Promulgation, it was usually oral, before the assembled
people, and afterwards revised in writing. The second part of Isaiah
and Ezekiel 40-48 were probably not given orally, but in writing.
Before Isaiah's and his contemporaries' time, prophecies were not
written, as not being intended for universal use. But now a larger
field was opened. To the worldly power of heathen nations which
threatened to destroy the theocracy is henceforth opposed the kingdom
of God, about to conquer all through Messiah, whose coming concerns all
ages. The lesser prophets give the quintessence of the prophecies of
their respective authors. An instance of the mode of collecting and
publishing prophecies occurs (Jer 36:4-14). Those of the later prophets
rest on those of the earlier (Zec 1:4; 7:7, 12). Ewald fancies that a
great number of prophetic rolls have been lost. But the fact of the
prophets often alluding to writings which we have, and never to those
which it can be proved we have not, makes it likely that we have all
those predictions which were committed to writing; the care bestowed on
them as divine, and the exact knowledge of them long after (Jer 26:18,
19), confirm this view.
The Arrangement is chronological; but as the twelve lesser prophets are
regarded as one work, and the three last of them lived later than
Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the former are put after the latter. The lesser
prophets are arranged chronologically, except Hosea, who being the
largest, is placed first, though some were earlier than he; also Jonah,
who seems to have been the earliest of the latter prophets.
As to The Messiah, no single prophet gives a complete view of Him: this
is made up of the various aspects of Him in different prophecies
combined; just as His life in the Gospels is one under a fourfold
aspect. In the first part of Isaiah, addressed to the whole people, the
prominent idea is His triumph, as King, the design being there to
remove their fears of the surrounding nations; in the second, addressed
to the elect remnant, He is exhibited as Prophet and Priest, Himself
being the sacrifice.
__________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
TO PROPHETS OF THE RESTORATION
by A. R. Faussett
The prophetic gift existed long before the prophetic office was
instituted. Thus Enoch had the former (Jude 14); so Abraham is called a
prophet (Ge 20:7) as are also the patriarchs (Ps 105:15). The office
was first instituted under the Mosaic economy; but even then the gift
was not always connected with the office; for example, Daniel was
endowed largely with the gift, but was never called to the office, as
living in a heathen court where he could not have exercised it. So
David (Mt 13:35; 27:35). Hence the writings of both are classed with
the Hagiographa, not with the prophets. Moreover, though the office
ceased with the close of the Old Testament dispensation, the gift
continued, and was among the leading charisms of the New Testament
Church. "Prophet" (in Hebrew, from a root, "to gush out like a
fountain") meant one acting as spokesman for another (Ex 7:1); so, one
speaking authoritatively for God as interpreter of His will. "Seer" was
the more ancient term (1Sa 9:9), implying that he spake by a divine
communication presented either to his senses or his mind: as "prophet"
indicated his authority as speaking for God.
Christ was the only fountain of prophecy (1Pe 1:11; Re 19:10; also Ac
16:7, the oldest reading, "the Spirit of Jesus"), and declared God's
will to men by His Holy Spirit acting on the minds of the prophets.
Thus the history of the Church is the history of God's revelations of
Himself in His Son to man. The three divisions of this history, the
Patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the Christian dispensations, are
characterized each by a distinct mode of God's manifestations--that is,
by a distinct form of the prophetic gift. (1) The theophanic mode
characterizes the Patriarchal dispensation: God revealing Himself in
visible appearances, or theophanies. (2) The theopneustic mode, the
Mosaic: God revealing Himself through God-inspired men. (3) The
theologic mode, the Christian: God revealing Himself, not merely at
intervals as before, but permanently by inspired writings ("the oracles
of God," 1Pe 4:11).
In the first or patriarchal age, men work no miracles, unlike all other
primeval histories, which abound in miracles wrought by men: a proof of
genuineness. All the miracles are wrought by God without man's
intervention; and the divine communications are usually by direct
utterance, whence the prophetic gift is rare, as God in this
dispensation only exceptionally employs the prophetic agency of men in
it: only in Ge 20:7, is the term "prophet" found. In the second or
Mosaic dispensation, God withdraws Himself more from direct
communication with man and manifests Himself through human instruments.
Instead of working miracles directly, Moses, Joshua, &c., are His
agents. So in His communications He speaks not directly, but through
Moses and his successors. The theocracy needed a new form of prophetic
gift: God-inspired (theopneustic) men must speak and act for God, the
Head of the theocracy, as His administrators; the prophetic gift is
therefore now connected with the prophetic office. These prophets
accordingly are acting, not writing, prophets. The latter did not arise
till the later ages of this second dispensation. Moses acted as a
legislator; Joshua, the Judges, and Samuel as executive prophets; David
and Solomon as devotional prophets. Even in the case of the writing
prophets of the latter half of the Mosaic dispensation, their primary
duty was to speak and act. Their writing had reference more to the use
of the New Testament dispensation than to their own (1Pe 1:12). So that
even in their case the characteristic of the Mosaic dispensation was
theopneustic, rather than theologic. The third, or Christian
dispensation, is theologic, that is, a revelation of God by inspired
writings. Compare 1Pe 4:11; 2Pe 1:16-21, where he contrasts "the old
time" when "holy men spake by the Holy Ghost" with our time when we
have the "sure word of prophecy"; or, as it may be translated, "the
word of prophecy confirmed [to us]." Thus God now reveals His will, not
by direct theophanies, as in the first dispensation; not by inspired
men, as in the second; but by the written word which liveth and abideth
for ever (as opposed to the desultory manifestations of God, and the
noncontinuance in life of the prophets, under the two former
dispensations respectively, 1Pe 1:23; 2Pe 3:2, 16). The next form shall
be the return of the theophanic manifestations on earth, in a more
perfect and abiding form than in the first age (Re 21:3).
The history of the prophetic office under the Mosaic dispensation falls
into three divisions. (1) The first ends with the age of Samuel and has
no regular succession of prophets, these not being needed while God
Himself ruled the people without an hereditary executive. (2) The
second period extends from Samuel to Uzziah, 800 B.C., and is the age
of prophets of action. Samuel combined in himself the three elements of
the theocracy, being a judge, a priest, and a prophet. The creation of
a human king rendered the formal office of prophet more necessary as a
counterpoise to it. Hence the age of the kings is the age of the
prophets. But at this stage they were prophets of action, rather than
of writing. Towards the close of this second period, the devotional and
Messianic prophecies of David and Solomon prepared the way for the
third period (from 800 B.C. to 400 B.C.), which began under Uzziah, and
which was the age of written prophecy. (3) In this third period the
prophets turn from the present to the future, and so the Messianic
element grows more distinct. Thus in these three shorter periods the
grand characteristics of the three great dispensations reappear. The
first is theophanic; the second, theopneustic; and the third,
theologic. Just as the great organic laws of the world reappear in
smaller departments, the law of the tree developing itself in miniature
forms in the structure of the leaf, and the curve of the planet's orbit
reappearing in the line traced by the projected cannon ball [Moore].
Samuel probably enacted rules giving a permanent form to the prophetic
order; at least in his time the first mention occurs of "schools of the
prophets." These were all near each other, and in Benjamin, namely, in
Beth-el, Gilgal, Ramah, and Jericho. Had the prophet been a mere
foreteller of events, such schools would have been useless. But he was
also God's representative to ensure the due execution of the Mosaic
ritual in its purity; hence arose the need of schools wherein to study
that divinely ordained institution. God mostly chose His prophets from
those thus educated, though not exclusively, as the cases of Amos (Am
7:14) and Elisha (1Ki 19:19) prove. The fact that the humblest might be
called to the prophetic office acted as a check to the hereditary
kingly power and a stimulus to seeking the qualifications needed for so
exalted an office. The Messianic Psalms towards the close of this
second period form the transition between the prophets of action and
the prophets of word, the men who were busy only with the present, and
the men who looked out from the present into the glorious future.
The third period, that from Uzziah to Malachi, includes three classes
of prophets: (1) Those of the ten tribes; (2) Those of the Gentiles;
(3) Those of Judah. In the first class were Hosea and Amos. Few of the
writing prophets belonged to Israel. They naturally gathered about the
seat of the theocracy in Judah. Hence those of the ten tribes were
mostly prophets of action. Under the second class fall Jonah, Nahum,
and Obadiah, who were witnesses for God's authority over the Gentile
world, as others witnessed for the same in the theocracy. The third
class, those of Judah, have a wider scope and a more hopeful, joyous
tone. They fall into five divisions: (1) Those dwelling in Judah at the
highest point of its greatness during its separate state; namely, the
century between Uzziah and Hezekiah, 800-700 B.C., Isaiah, Joel, and
Micah. (2) The declining period of Judah, from Manasseh to Zedekiah,
for example, Zephaniah and Habakkuk. (3) The captivity: Jeremiah. (4)
The exile, when the future was all that the eye could rest on with
hope; for example, Ezekiel and Daniel, who are chiefly prophets of the
future. (5) The restoration: to which period belong the three last
writing prophets of the Old Testament, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
John the Baptist long subsequently belonged to the same dispensation,
but he wrote nothing (Mt 11:9-11); like Elijah, he was a prophet of
action and preaching, preparing the way for the prophets of word, as
John did for the Incarnate Word.
To understand the spirit of each prophet's teaching, his historical
position and the circumstances of the time must be considered. The
captivity was designed to eradicate the Jews' tendency to idolatry and
to restore the theocratic spirit which recognized God as the only
ruler, and the Mosaic institutions as His established law, for a time
until Messiah should come. Hence the prophets of the restoration are
best illustrated by comparison with the histories of Ezra and Nehemiah,
contemporaries of Malachi.
Of the three prophets of the restoration, two, Haggai and Zechariah,
are at the beginning of the period, and the remaining one, Malachi, is
at the close. The exile was not one complete deportation of the people,
but a series of deportations extending over a century and a half. So
the restoration was not accomplished at once, but in successive returns
extending over a century. Hence arises the different tone of Haggai and
Zechariah at its beginning, and of Malachi at its close. The first
return took place in the first year of Cyrus, 536 B.C.; 42,360 persons
returned under Shesh-bazzar or Zerubbabel and Joshua (Ezr 2:64). They
built an altar and laid the foundations of the temple. They were
interrupted by the misrepresentations of the Samaritans, and the work
was suspended for fourteen years. The death of Smerdis gave an
opportunity of renewing the work, seventy years after the destruction
of the first temple. This was the time when Haggai and Zechariah arose,
the former to incite to the immediate rebuilding of the temple and
restoration of the Mosaic ritual, the latter to aid in the work and to
unfold the grand future of the theocracy as an incentive to present
labor. The impossibility of observing the Mosaic ritual in the exile
generated an anti-theocratic indifference to it in the young who were
strangers to the Jerusalem worship, from which the nation had been
debarred for upwards of half a century. Moreover, the gorgeous pomp of
Babylon tended to make them undervalue the humble rites of Jehovah's
worship at that time. Hence there was need of a Haggai and a Zechariah
to correct these feelings by unfolding the true glory of the theocratic
institutions.
The next great epoch was the return of Ezra, 458 B.C., eighty years
after the first expedition under Zerubbabel. Thirteen years later, 445
B.C., Nehemiah came to aid Ezra in the good work. It was now that
Malachi arose to second these works, three-fourths of a century after
Haggai and Zechariah. As their work was that of restorers, his was that
of a reformer. The estates of many had become mortgaged, and depression
of circumstances had led many into a skeptical spirit as to the service
of God. They not only neglected the temple of worship, but took heathen
wives, to the wrong of their Jewish wives and the dishonor of God.
Therefore, besides the reformation of civil abuses and the rebuilding
of the wall, effected through Nehemiah's exertions, a religious
reformer was needed such as was Ezra, who reformed the ecclesiastical
abuses, established synagogues, where regular instruction in the law
could be received, restored the Sabbath, and the Passover, and the
dignity of the priesthood, and generated a reverence for the written
law, which afterwards became a superstition. Malachi aided in this good
work by giving it his prophetical authority. How thoroughly the work
was effected is proved by the utter change in the national character.
Once always prone to idolatry, ever since the captivity they have
abhorred it. Once loving kingly rule, now contrary to the ordinary
course of history, they became submissive to priestly rule. Once
negligent of the written Word, now they regarded it with reverence
sometimes bordering on superstition. Once fond of foreign alliances,
henceforth they shrank with abhorrence from all foreigners. Once fond
of agriculture, now they became a trading people. From being pliable
before, they now became intensely bigoted and nationally intolerant.
Thus the restoration from Babylon moulded the national character more
than any event since the exodus from Egypt.
Now the distinction between Judah and the ten tribes of Israel
disappears. So in the New Testament the twelve tribes are mentioned (Ac
26:7; Jas 1:1). The theocratic feeling generated at the restoration
drew all of the elect nation round the seat of the theocracy, the
metropolis of the true religion, Jerusalem. Malachi tended to promote
this feeling; thus his prophecy, though addressed to the people of
Jerusalem, is called "the word of the Lord to Israel" [Mal 1:1].
The long silence of prophets from Malachi to the times of Messiah was
calculated to awaken in the Jewish mind the more earnest desire for Him
who was to exceed infinitely in word and deed all the prophets, His
forerunners. The three prophets of the restoration being the last of
the Old Testament, are especially distinct in pointing to Him who, as
the great subject of the New Testament, was to fulfil all the Old
Testament.
__________________________________________________________________
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF
THE PARABLES OF CHRIST.
by David Brown
Parables. Where Spoken. Where Recorded.
The two debtors [Capernaum] Lu 7:40-43.
The strong man armed Galilee Mt 12:29; Mr 3:27; Lu 11:21, 22.
The unclean spirit Galilee Mt 12:43-45; Lu 11:24-26.
The sower Seashore of Galilee Mt 13:3-9, 18-23; Mr 4:3-9, 14-20; Lu
8:5-8, 11-15.
The tares and wheat Seashore of Galilee Mt 13:24-30, 36-43.
The mustard seed Seashore of Galilee Mt 13:31, 32; Mr 4:30-32; Lu
13:18, 19.
The seed growing secretly Seashore of Galilee Mr 4:26-29.
The leaven Seashore of Galilee Mt 13:33; Lu 13:20, 21.
The hid treasure Seashore of Galilee Mt 13:44.
The pearl of great price Seashore of Galilee Mt 13:45, 46.
The draw net Seashore of Galilee Mt 13:47-50.
The unmerciful servant Capernaum Mt 18:21-35.
The good Samaritan Near Jerusalem Lu 10:29-37.
The friend at midnight Near Jerusalem Lu 11:5-8.
The rich fool Galilee Lu 12:16-21.
The barren fig tree Galilee Lu 13:6-9.
The great supper Perea Lu 14:15-24.
The lost sheep Perea Mt 18:12-14; Lu 15:3-7.
The lost piece of money Perea Lu 15:8-10.
The prodigal son Perea Lu 15:11-32.
The good shepherd Jerusalem Joh 10:1-18.
The unjust steward Perea Lu 16:1-8.
The rich man and Lazarus Perea Lu 16:19-31.
The profitable servants Perea Lu 17:7-10.
The importunate widow Perea Lu 18:1-8.
The Pharisees and publicans Perea Lu 18:9-14.
The laborers in the vineyard Perea Mt 20:1-16.
The pounds Jericho Lu 19:11-27.
The two sons Jerusalem Mt 21:28-32.
The wicked husbandmen Jerusalem Mt 21:33-44; Mr 12:1-12; Lu 20:9-18.
The marriage of the king's son Jerusalem Mt 22:1-14.
The ten virgins Mount of Olives Mt 25:1-13.
The talents Mount of Olives Mt 25:14-30.
__________________________________________________________________
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF
THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST.
by David Brown
On the order of some of our Lord's Miracles and Parables,
the data being scanty, considerable difference obtains.
Miracles. Where Wrought. Where Recorded.
Water made wine Cana Joh 2:1-11.
Traders cast out of the temple Jerusalem Joh 2:13-17.
Nobleman's son healed Cana Joh 4:46-54.
First miraculous draught of fishes Sea of Galilee Lu 5:1-11.
Leper healed Capernaum Mt 8:2-4; Mark 1:40-45; Lu 5:12-15.
Centurion's servant healed Capernaum Mt 8:5-13; Lu 7:1-10.
Widow's son raised to life Nain Lu 7:11-17.
Demoniac healed Capernaum Mr 1:21-28; Lu 4:31-37.
Peter's mother-in-law healed Capernaum Mt 8:14, 15; Mr 1:29-31; Lu
4:38, 39.
Paralytic healed Capernaum Mt 9:2-8; Mr 2:1-12; Lu 5:17-26.
Impotent man healed Jerusalem Joh 5:1-16.
Man with withered hand healed Galilee Mt 12:10-14; Mr 3:1-6; Lu 6:6-11.
Blind and dumb demoniac healed Galilee Mt 12:22-24; Lu 11:14.
Tempest stilled Sea of Galilee Mt 8:23-27; Mr 4:35-41; Lu 8:22-25.
Demoniacs dispossessed Gadara Mt 8:28-34; Mr 5:1-20.
Jairus' daughter raised to life Capernaum Mt 9:18-26; Mr 5:22-24; Lu
8:41-56.
Issue of blood healed Near Capernaum Mt 9:18-26; Mr 5:22-24; Lu
8:41-56.
Two blind men restored to sight Capernaum Mt 9:27-31.
Dumb demoniac healed Capernaum Mt 9:32-34.
Five thousand miraculously fed Decapolis Mt 14:13-21; Mr 6:31-44; Lu
9:10-17; Joh 6:5-14.
Jesus walks on the sea Sea of Galilee Mt 14:22-33; Mr 6:45-52; Joh
6:15-21.
Syrophoenician's daughter healed Coasts of Tyre and Sidon Mt 15:21-28;
Mr 7:24-30.
Deaf and dumb man healed Decapolis Mr 7:31-37.
Four thousand fed Decapolis Mt 15:32-39; Mr 8:1-9.
Blind man restored to sight Bethsaida Mr 8:22-26.
Demoniac and lunatic boy healed Near Cæsarea Philippi Mt 17:14-21; Mr
9:14-29; Lu 9:37-43.
Miraculous provision of tribute Capernaum Mt 17:24-27.
The eyes of one born blind opened Jerusalem Joh 9:1-41.
Woman, of eighteen years' infirmity, cured [Perea.] Lu 13:10-17.
Dropsical man healed [Perea.] Lu 14:1-6.
Ten lepers cleansed Borders of Samaria Lu 17:11-19.
Lazarus raised to life Bethany Joh 11:1-46.
Two blind beggars restored to sight Jericho Mt 20:29-34; Mr 10:46-52;
Lu 18:35-43.
Barren fig tree blighted Bethany Mt 21:12, 13, 18, 19; Mr 11:12-24.
Buyers and sellers again cast out Jerusalem Lu 19:45, 46.
Malchus' ear healed Gethsemane Mt 26:51-54; Mr 14:47-49; Lu 22:50, 51;
Joh 18:10,11.
Second draught of fishes Sea of Galilee Joh 21:1-14.
__________________________________________________________________
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS CONNECTED WITH
THE LIFE OF THE APOSTLE PAUL.
by David Brown
Certainty in these dates is not to be had, the notes of time in the
Acts being few and vague. It is only by connecting those events of
secular history which it records, and the dates of which are otherwise
tolerably known to us--such as the famine under Claudius Cæsar (Ac
11:28), the expulsion of the Jews from Rome by the same emperor (Ac
18:2), and the entrance of Porcius Festus upon his procuratorship (Ac
24:27), with the intervals specified between some occurrences in the
apostle's life and others (such as Ac 20:31; 24:27; 28:30; and Ga
1:1-2:21)--that we can thread our way through the difficulties that
surround the chronology of the apostle's life, and approximate to
certainty. Immense research has been brought to bear upon the subject,
but, as might be expected, the learned are greatly divided. Every year
has been fixed upon as the probable date of the apostle's conversion
from A.D. 31 [Bengel] to A.D. 42 [Eusebius]. But the weight of
authority is in favor of dates ranging between 35 and 40, a difference
of not more than five years; and the largest number of authorities is
in favor of the year 37 or 38. Taking the former of these, to which
opinion largely inclines, the following Table will be useful to the
student of apostolic history:
A.D. 37 Paul's Conversion Ac 9:1.
A.D. 40 First Visit to Jerusalem Ac 9:26; Ga 1:18.
A.D. 42-44 First Residence at Antioch Ac 11:25-30.
A.D. 44 Second Visit to Jerusalem Ac 11:30; 12:25.
A.D. 45-47 First Missionary Journey Ac 13:2; 14:26.
A.D. 47-51 Second Residence at Antioch Ac 14:28.
Third Visit to Jerusalem Ac 15:2-30; Ga 2:1-10.
(on which see Notes)
A.D. 51,53, or 54 Second Missionary Journey Ac 15:36, 40; 18:22.
A.D. 53 or 54 Fourth Visit to Jerusalem Ac 18:21, 22.
Third Residence at Antioch Ac 18:22, 23.
A.D. 54-58 Third Missionary Journey Ac 18:23; 21:15.
A.D. 58 Fifth Visit to Jerusalem
Arrest and Imprisonment at Cæsarea Ac 21:15; 23:35.
A.D. 60 (Autumn)--
A.D. 61 (Spring) Voyage to and Arrival in Rome Ac 27:1; 28:16.
A.D. 63 Release from Imprisonment
At Crete, Colosse, Macedonia, Corinth, Nicopolis, Dalmatia, Troas Ac
28:30.
1 & 2 Tim. 1:1-4:22 and Tit.
A.D. 63-65, or 66, or possibly as late as A.D. 66-68 Martyrdom at Rome
__________________________________________________________________
ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC EDITION
This electronic edition of Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's one-volume
Commentary on the Whole Bible has been prepared from text scanned by
Woodside Bible Fellowship. The work has been completed in three passes:
first, to import the text into the verse notes of the OnLine Bible,
correct common scanning errors, and insert markers for Scripture
references, boldface and italics; second, to verify the markers for
boldfacing, italics, Scripture citations, cross references, &c.; third,
to format the notes.
Expanded Electronic Version.
The designation of this electronic edition of the commentary as
expanded refers to the editor's preference for complete words rather
than abbreviations in the commentary (with the exception of Scripture
references); the addition of white space in layout by placing on new
lines the portion of the Scripture on which commentary has been
provided by the authors; the replacement of the standard abbreviations
"ch." and "vs." in citations with a complete reference to the Bible
book, chapter, and verse; the rendering of the abbreviation of standard
reference works by Greek and Latin Fathers in full English titles. The
purpose of these expansions is to make the Commentary more readable and
accessible to the modern reader.
It is worth noting that in the printed version, errors in spelling,
punctuation, numbering, cross references have followed throughout the
printing history of this one-volume edition of the Commentary. This
electronic edition, then, may represent the first corrected edition.
Conventions.
In formatting the commentary for use with the OnLine Bible, the
following corrections and improvements have been made, with a view
toward improving the readability and, thus, enhancing the usefulness of
this reference work:
(1) Added "white space" by beginning a new paragraph with each part of
quoted Scripture for which commentary is written.
(2) Formatted Scripture references, using the OnLine Bible
abbreviations. When an entire chapter is referenced, the first and last
verses are included so that the Scriptures may be viewed from the
notes. The abbreviations for "chapter" ("ch." and "chs.") and "verse"
("vs." and "vss.") have been replaced with the appropriate OnLine Bible
book designations. Scripture references have been checked for validity,
but not necessarily for appropriateness.
(3) Added Scripture references to quotations and allusions in the
commentary. These have been enclosed within square brackets.
(4) Standardized inconsistencies in conventions observed by the three
authors. For example, in the printed edition, references to notes are
indicated variously as "see on," "cf. on," "Note"; marginal notes are
indicated as "Margin," "marg.," or "margin" (sometimes the word
"margin" appears before the verse reference, sometime after), in roman
or italic type; inferential words in Scripture are some times indicated
by parentheses or square brackets, or by use of regular type when the
verse is in boldface type; bibliographic citations are variously given
(for instance, Josephus's The Wars of the Jews as B.J., J.B., Bell.
Jud., Wars, Jewish Wars); alternate textual and marginal readings
appear variously in roman type, italic type, within quotation marks; to
indicate continuation of the Scripture quotation, sometimes ellipsis is
used, at other times, "&c."
(5) Expanded the following abbreviations:
"cf." (French, "confer") as "compare" or "for comparison";
"ed." as "edition";
"e.g." (Latin, "exempli gratia") as "for example" or "for instance";
"i.e." (Latin, "id est") as "that is";
"lit." as "literal" or "literally";
"LXX" and "Sept." as Septuagint;
"MSS." as "manuscripts,"
"N.B." (Latin, Nota Bene) as "Note";
"q.d." (Latin, quasi dicat) as "As if he should say";
"viz.," (Latin, videlicet) as "namely."
(6) The English titles have been provided for the titles (and
abbreviations of titles) of Greek and Latin books. For example, instead
of adv. Haer., Irenaeus' treatise has been specified as Against
Heresies; instead of De viris illustribus or Catalogus scriptorum
ecclesiasticorm, or De scriptorum, Jerome's book has been designated as
On Illustrious Men. For patristic works, the titles in The Early Church
Fathers series have been the ones preferred. Where authors or titles
abbreviated in citations cannot be identified certainly, the authors'
notes have been retained. (Not all references have been checked for
accuracy; however, some corrections have been provided.) The following
is a list of the Greek and Latin titles and their English equivalents
used in this electronic edition; variants of authors' names are also
listed:
Ambrose Amularis de Officiis The Duties of the Clergy
Ambrose Ep. Epistles
Arrian Expeditio Alexandri Campaigns of Alexander
Athanasius Orat. Orations
Athenagoras De Resurrectione Mortuorum Of the Resurrection of the Dead
Augustine Civit. Dei The City of God
Augustine De Civitate Dei The City of God
Augustine De Sancta Virginitate Holy Virginity
Augustine Ad Catechumenos The Creed
Augustine De Symbolo ad Catechumenos The Creed
Augustine Enchir. de Laurentium Enchirdon
Augustine Ep. Epistles
Augustine Ep. John Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John
Augustine Hæreses Heresies
Augustine Quæst. Evang. The Question of the Gospels
Aulus Gellius Noctes Atticæ Attic Nights
Bede Explan. Apocalypse Explanation of the Apocalypse
Birks Horæ Apostolicæ Apostolic History
Birks Horæ Evangelicæ Gospel History
Cæsar B. G. Commentaries on the Gallic War
Chrysostom De Sacerdotio On the Priesthood
Chrysostom Orationes Orations
Cicero De Natura Deorum The Nature of the Gods
Cicero Parad. Paradox
Clemens Alexandrinus Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria Pædagogus The Instructor
Clement of Alexandria Quis Dives Salvus Who Is the Rich Man Who Shall
Be Saved
Clement of Alexandria Stromata Miscellanies
Clemens Romanus Clement of Rome
Clement of Rome Constitut. Apostolical Constitutions
Clement of Rome Epistola ad Corinthios Epistle to the Corinthians
Cyprian Ad Rogatian To Rogatianus
Cyprian De Bene Patientiæ On the Advantage of Patience (Treatise 9)
Cyprian De Hæreticis Baptizandis Concerning the Baptism of Heretics
Cyprian De Opere et Eleemos On Works and Alms (Treatise 8)
Cyprian De Oratione Domini On the Lord's Prayer (Treatise 4)
Cyprian Ep. Epistles
Cyril of Alexandria De Adoratione On Worship
Cyril of Jerusalem Catechesis Catechetical Lectures
Ephrem the Syrian Opp. Græc. Against the Greeks
Ephrem Syrus Ephrem the Syrian
Epiphanius Hæreses Heresies
Eusebius Chron. Chronicles
Eusebius Demonstratio Evangelicæ Demonstration of the Gospel
Eusebius H. E. Ecclesiastical History
Eusebius Præparatio Evangelica Preparation of the Gospel
Firmillian Epistle ad Cyprian Epistle to Cyprian
Hermas Shepherd Shepherd (Vision First, &c.)
Hermas Similes Similitudes (Similitude Sixth, &c.)
Hippolytus De Antichristo On Antichrist
Hippolytus Refut. of Hæres. The Refutation of All Heresies
Hovenden, Roger Angl. Chron. Annals
Ignatius Ad Symrnæos Epistle to the Symrnæans
Ignatius Epistola ad Ephesum Epistle to the Ephesians
Ignatius Epistola ad Romanos Epistle to the Romans
Ignatius Magnes. Epistle to the Magnesians
Ignatius Martyrium Ignatii The Martyrdom of Ignatius
Irenæus Adversus Hæreses Against Heresies
Irenæus Præf. Preface
Jerome Adv. err. Johann. Hieros. Against John of Jerusalem
Jerome Annotationes in Matthæum Commentary on Matthew
Jerome Catalogus Ecclesiasticorum Scriptorum, (full title, Liber De
Viris Illustribus Seu Catalogus Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticus) On
Illustrious Men
Jerome Catalogus Scriptorum On Illustrious Men
Jerome Catalogus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum On Illustrious Men
Jerome Contra Helvidium Against Helvidius
Jerome Contra Luciferianos Dialogues against the Luficerians
Jerome De Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum On Illustrious Men
Jerome De Viris Illustribus On Illustrious Men
Jerome Epistola ad Paulinum Epistle to Paulinus
Jerome Proæmium in Matthoeum Commentary on Matthew
Jerome Proæmium in Philemonem Commentary on Philemon
Josephus Contra Apion Against Apion
Julian Ep. Epistles
Justin Martyr Contra Tryphonen Dialogue with Trypho
Justin Martyr Dialogue contra Tryphonen Dialogue with Trypho
Justin Martyr Oratio ad Græcos Discourse to the Greeks
Justin Martyr Quæst ad Orthod.
Lactantius De Mortibus Persecutorium Of the Manner in Which the
Persecutors Died
Lightfoot Horæ Hebraicæ et Talmudicæ Hebrew and Talmudic Exercitations
Macrob. Macrobius
Marcellus Cærmoniale Rom. Roman Ceremonial
Oppian Cynegetica Cynegeticks
Origen adv. Celsum Against Celsus
Origen c. Cels.
Contra Celsum Against Celsus
Origen Principia On First Principles
Orosius Hist.
Historiarum Libri The Seven Books of History against the Pagans
Paley Horæ Paulinæ History of St. Paul
Philo de Mon.
De Mundo Opificio The Creation of the World
Philo Legat. ad Caium The Embassy to Gaius
Plato Legge Laws
Plautus Miles Gloriosus A Boastful Soldier
Pliny Ep. Epistles
Plutarch De Educatione Puerorum On the Education of Children
Polycarp Ep. Philipp. Epistle to the Philippians
Polycarp ad Philippenses Epistle to the Philippians
Porphyry De Abstin. On Abstinence
Primasius Ad Apocalypsin in fine Commentary on the Apocalypse
Routh Reliq. Sacr.
Reliqiuæ Sacræ Sacred Fragments
Rufinus Expositio Symboli Apostolorum Commentary on the Apostle's Creed
Rufinus Hist.
Historia Monachorum
St. Bernard Serm. Sermon
Seneca Ep. Epistles
Socrates Historia Ecclesiastica Ecclesiastical History
Tacitus Agricola On Agriculture
Tertullian Adv. Jud. Epistle against Judaizers
Tertullian Adversus Marcion Against Marcion
Tertullian Adversus Praxean Against Praxeas
Tertullian Adversus Valentinianos Against Valentinian
Tertullian Contra Marcion Against Marcion
Tertullian Contra Gnosticos Against the Gnostics
Tertullian De Anima A Treatise on the Soul
Tertullian De Coron.
De Corona The Chaplet
Tertullian De Baptism. On Baptism
Tertullian De Cultu Fæminarum On the Apparel of Women
Tertullian De Oratione Prayer
Tertullian De pat.
De Patientia Patience
Tertullian De Præscriptione Haereticorum The Prescription against
Heretics
Tertullian De pudicitia On Modesty
Tertullian De Resurrectione Carnis On the Resurrection of the Flesh
Tertullian De Velandis Virginibus On the Veiling of Virgins
Tertullian Scorp.
Scorpiace Antidote to the Scorpion's Sting
Theophilus Ad Autolychus To Autolychus
Theophylact Ad Autolychus To Autolychus
Varro Re Rust.
Rerum Rusticarium On Agriculture
Christian A. Wahl Clavis Key of the New Testament
Citations in which the author and chapter-section notations are given,
but not the title, this has been supplied. For example, [Eusebius, 5.2]
has been expanded to [Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 5.2], referring
the reader to the fifth chapter, the second section of that work.
Since, in the printed edition, the use of the abbreviations in
citations for "book" ("l.," for the Latin "liber"), "chapter" ("c." or
"ch."), and "section" ("s." or "sec.") is somewhat erratic, these
abbreivations have been eliminated (in most instances) and the Loeb
system of citation has been adopted. For instance, [Irenæus, adversus
Hæreses, 4.18, sec. 3] has been cited as [Irenæus, Against Heresies,
4.18.3], referring the reader to the fourth book, the eighteenth
chapter, the third section.
(7) In the printed version, both quotation mark and italics are
employed to designate a word used as a word; in the electronic version,
quotation marks have been used for this purpose, and the use of italics
reserved for emphasis of words.
(8) Where boldfacing has been used to highlight words within a
sentence, italics have been substituted:
Pr 19:5
5. Compare Pr 19:9, where perish explains not escape here (compare
Ps 88:9, 10).
5. Compare Pr 19:9, where perish explains not escape here (compare
Ps 88:9, 10).
(10) Passages including interpolations have been formatted in the
manner of the Commentary as a whole. For example, in the printed text,
the passage from Mt 2:22 is set as follows:
notwithstanding [or more simply, "but"] being warned of God in a
dream, he turned aside [withdrew] into the parts of Galilee, or the
Galilean parts.
In the electronic version, however, it is set as follows:
notwithstanding--or more simply, "but."
being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside--withdrew.
into the parts of Galilee--or the Galilean parts.
When work on the Commentary was begun in 1995, it was under somewhat
different editorial rules. (1) Since the OnLine Bible did not support
italics at that time, quotation marks were used to indicate emphasis;
emphasis within quotations in the text was ignored. (2) Since the
OnLine Bible eschews hyphenated compound words, many of the hyphens
used in the text were eliminated. (3) Marginal notes from the Bible
were included in the Commentary to supplement those already mentioned
by the authors. (4) Interpolations in quotations were set off by square
brackets instead of parentheses. However, when the final pass was begun
in 1997, I attempted to adhere more closely to the printed text in
regard to use of italics, hyphenation, marginal notes, parentheses, and
brackets.
Public Domain Status.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-Brown Commentary is in
the public domain and may be freely used and distributed. It was first
posted on the [1]Christian Classics Ethereal Library server in December
1997. The links to the Bible Gateway for Scripture references in that
copy were added in January 1998 by Harry Plantinga. During July and
August 1999, the Scripture references and links were inspected and
corrected as necessary. Thanks to correspondents, especially Ken Hamel,
who have offered corrections.
Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.
Created 13 December 1997
Revised 11 July 1998
Revised 27 August 1999
Last Updated 17 October 1999
Ernie Stefanik
373 Wilson Street
Derry, PA 15627-9770
e_stefanik@email.msn.com
__________________________________________________________________
The Old Testament
__________________________________________________________________
THE FIRST BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED
GENESIS.
Commentary by Robert Jamieson
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 1
Ge 1:1, 2. The Creation of Heaven and Earth.
1. In the beginning--a period of remote and unknown antiquity, hid in
the depths of eternal ages; and so the phrase is used in Pr 8:22, 23.
God--the name of the Supreme Being, signifying in Hebrew, "Strong,"
"Mighty." It is expressive of omnipotent power; and by its use here in
the plural form, is obscurely taught at the opening of the Bible, a
doctrine clearly revealed in other parts of it, namely, that though God
is one, there is a plurality of persons in the Godhead--Father, Son,
and Spirit, who were engaged in the creative work (Pr 8:27; Joh 1:3,
10; Eph 3:9; Heb 1:2; Job 26:13).
created--not formed from any pre-existing materials, but made out of
nothing.
the heaven and the earth--the universe. This first verse is a general
introduction to the inspired volume, declaring the great and important
truth that all things had a beginning; that nothing throughout the wide
extent of nature existed from eternity, originated by chance, or from
the skill of any inferior agent; but that the whole universe was
produced by the creative power of God (Ac 17:24; Ro 11:36). After this
preface, the narrative is confined to the earth.
2. the earth was without form and void--or in "confusion and
emptiness," as the words are rendered in Isa 34:11. This globe, at some
undescribed period, having been convulsed and broken up, was a dark and
watery waste for ages perhaps, till out of this chaotic state, the
present fabric of the world was made to arise.
the Spirit of God moved--literally, continued brooding over it, as a
fowl does, when hatching eggs. The immediate agency of the Spirit, by
working on the dead and discordant elements, combined, arranged, and
ripened them into a state adapted for being the scene of a new
creation. The account of this new creation properly begins at the end
of this second verse; and the details of the process are described in
the natural way an onlooker would have done, who beheld the changes
that successively took place.
Ge 1:3-5. The First Day.
3. God said--This phrase, which occurs so repeatedly in the account
means: willed, decreed, appointed; and the determining will of God was
followed in every instance by an immediate result. Whether the sun was
created at the same time with, or long before, the earth, the dense
accumulation of fogs and vapors which enveloped the chaos had covered
the globe with a settled gloom. But by the command of God, light was
rendered visible; the thick murky clouds were dispersed, broken, or
rarefied, and light diffused over the expanse of waters. The effect is
described in the name "day," which in Hebrew signifies "warmth,"
"heat"; while the name "night" signifies a "rolling up," as night wraps
all things in a shady mantle.
4. divided the light from darkness--refers to the alternation or
succession of the one to the other, produced by the daily revolution of
the earth round its axis.
5. first day--a natural day, as the mention of its two parts clearly
determines; and Moses reckons, according to Oriental usage, from sunset
to sunset, saying not day and night as we do, but evening and morning.
Ge 1:6-8. Second Day.
6. firmament--an expanse--a beating out as a plate of metal: a name
given to the atmosphere from its appearing to an observer to be the
vault of heaven, supporting the weight of the watery clouds. By the
creation of an atmosphere, the lighter parts of the waters which
overspread the earth's surface were drawn up and suspended in the
visible heavens, while the larger and heavier mass remained below. The
air was thus "in the midst of the waters," that is, separated them; and
this being the apparent use of it, is the only one mentioned, although
the atmosphere serves other uses, as a medium of life and light.
Ge 1:9-13. Third Day.
9. let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one
place--The world was to be rendered a terraqueous globe, and this was
effected by a volcanic convulsion on its surface, the upheaving of some
parts, the sinking of others, and the formation of vast hollows, into
which the waters impetuously rushed, as is graphically described (Ps
104:6-9) [Hitchcock]. Thus a large part of the earth was left "dry
land," and thus were formed oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers which,
though each having its own bed, or channel, are all connected with the
sea (Job 38:10; Ec 1:7).
11. let the earth bring forth--The bare soil was clothed with verdure,
and it is noticeable that the trees, plants, and grasses--the three
great divisions of the vegetable kingdom here mentioned--were not
called into existence in the same way as the light and the air; they
were made to grow, and they grew as they do still out of the
ground--not, however, by the slow process of vegetation, but through
the divine power, without rain, dew, or any process of labor--sprouting
up and flourishing in a single day.
Ge 1:14-19. Fourth Day.
14. let there be lights in the firmament--The atmosphere being
completely purified, the sun, moon, and stars were for the first time
unveiled in all their glory in the cloudless sky; and they are
described as "in the firmament" which to the eye they appear to be,
though we know they are really at vast distances from it.
16. two great lights--In consequence of the day being reckoned as
commencing at sunset--the moon, which would be seen first in the
horizon, would appear "a great light," compared with the little
twinkling stars; while its pale benign radiance would be eclipsed by
the dazzling splendor of the sun; when his resplendent orb rose in the
morning and gradually attained its meridian blaze of glory, it would
appear "the greater light" that ruled the day. Both these lights may be
said to be "made" on the fourth day--not created, indeed, for it is a
different word that is here used, but constituted, appointed to the
important and necessary office of serving as luminaries to the world,
and regulating by their motions and their influence the progress and
divisions of time.
Ge 1:20-23. Fifth Day. The signs of animal life appeared in the waters
and in the air.
20. moving creature--all oviparous animals, both among the finny and
the feathery tribes--remarkable for their rapid and prodigious
increase.
fowl--means every flying thing: The word rendered "whales," includes
also sharks, crocodiles, &c.; so that from the countless shoals of
small fish to the great sea monsters, from the tiny insect to the king
of birds, the waters and the air were suddenly made to swarm with
creatures formed to live and sport in their respective elements.
Ge 1:24-31. Sixth Day. A farther advance was made by the creation of
terrestrial animals, all the various species of which are included in
three classes: (1) cattle, the herbivorous kind capable of labor or
domestication.
24. beasts of the earth--(2) wild animals, whose ravenous natures were
then kept in check, and (3) all the various forms of creeping
things--from the huge reptiles to the insignificant caterpillars.
26. The last stage in the progress of creation being now reached--God
said, Let us make man--words which show the peculiar importance of the
work to be done, the formation of a creature, who was to be God's
representative, clothed with authority and rule as visible head and
monarch of the world. In our image, after our likeness--This was a
peculiar distinction, the value attached to which appears in the words
being twice mentioned. And in what did this image of God consist? Not
in the erect form or features of man, not in his intellect, for the
devil and his angels are, in this respect, far superior; not in his
immortality, for he has not, like God, a past as well as a future
eternity of being; but in the moral dispositions of his soul, commonly
called original righteousness (Ec 7:29). As the new creation is only a
restoration of this image, the history of the one throws light on the
other; and we are informed that it is renewed after the image of God in
knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness (Col 3:10; Eph 4:24).
28. Be fruitful, &c.--The human race in every country and age has been
the offspring of the first pair. Amid all the varieties found among
men, some black, some copper-colored, others white, the researches of
modern science lead to a conclusion, fully accordant with the sacred
history, that they are all of one species and of one family (Ac 17:26).
What power in the word of God! "He spake and it was done. He commanded
and all things stood fast" [Ps 33:9]. "Great and manifold are thy
works, Lord God Almighty! in wisdom hast thou made them all" [Ps
104:24]. We admire that wisdom, not only in the regular progress of
creation, but in its perfect adaptation to the end. God is represented
as pausing at every stage to look at His work. No wonder He
contemplated it with complacency. Every object was in its right place,
every vegetable process going on in season, every animal in its
structure and instincts suited to its mode of life and its use in the
economy of the world. He saw everything that He had made answering the
plan which His eternal wisdom had conceived; and, "Behold it was very
good" [Ge 1:31].
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CHAPTER 2
Ge 2:1. The Narrative of the Six Days' Creation Continued. The course
of the narrative is improperly broken by the division of the chapter.
1. the heavens--the firmament or atmosphere.
host--a multitude, a numerous array, usually connected in Scripture
with heaven only, but here with the earth also, meaning all that they
contain.
were finished--brought to completion. No permanent change has ever
since been made in the course of the world, no new species of animals
been formed, no law of nature repealed or added to. They could have
been finished in a moment as well as in six days, but the work of
creation was gradual for the instruction of man, as well, perhaps, as
of higher creatures (Job 38:7).
Ge 2:2-7. The First Sabbath.
2. and he rested on the seventh day--not to repose from exhaustion with
labor (see Isa 40:28), but ceased from working, an example equivalent
to a command that we also should cease from labor of every kind.
3. blessed and sanctified the seventh day--a peculiar distinction put
upon it above the other six days, and showing it was devoted to sacred
purposes. The institution of the Sabbath is as old as creation, giving
rise to that weekly division of time which prevailed in the earliest
ages. It is a wise and beneficent law, affording that regular interval
of rest which the physical nature of man and the animals employed in
his service requires, and the neglect of which brings both to premature
decay. Moreover, it secures an appointed season for religious worship,
and if it was necessary in a state of primeval innocence, how much more
so now, when mankind has a strong tendency to forget God and His
claims?
4. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth--the
history or account of their production. Whence did Moses obtain this
account so different from the puerile and absurd fictions of the
heathen? Not from any human source, for man was not in existence to
witness it; not from the light of nature or reason, for though they
proclaim the eternal power and Godhead by the things which are made,
they cannot tell how they were made. None but the Creator Himself could
give this information, and therefore it is through faith we understand
that the worlds were framed by the word of God (Heb 11:3).
5, 6. rain, mist--(See on Ge 1:11).
7. Here the sacred writer supplies a few more particulars about the
first pair.
formed--had FORMED MAN OUT OF THE DUST OF THE GROUND. Science has
proved that the substance of his flesh, sinews, and bones, consists of
the very same elements as the soil which forms the crust of the earth
and the limestone that lies embedded in its bowels. But from that mean
material what an admirable structure has been reared in the human body
(Ps 139:14).
the breath of life--literally, of lives, not only animal but spiritual
life. If the body is so admirable, how much more the soul with all its
varied faculties.
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life--not that the Creator
literally performed this act, but respiration being the medium and sign
of life, this phrase is used to show that man's life originated in a
different way from his body--being implanted directly by God (Ec 12:7),
and hence in the new creation of the soul Christ breathed on His
disciples (Joh 20:22).
Ge 8-17. The Garden of Eden.
8. Eden--was probably a very extensive region in Mesopotamia,
distinguished for its natural beauty and the richness and variety of
its produce. Hence its name, signifying "pleasantness." God planted a
garden eastward, an extensive park, a paradise, in which the man was
put to be trained under the paternal care of his Maker to piety and
usefulness.
9. tree of life--so called from its symbolic character as a sign and
seal of immortal life. Its prominent position where it must have been
an object of daily observation and interest, was admirably fitted to
keep man habitually in mind of God and futurity.
tree of the knowledge of good and evil--so called because it was a test
of obedience by which our first parents were to be tried, whether they
would be good or bad, obey God or break His commands.
15. put the man into the garden of Eden to dress it--not only to give
him a pleasant employment, but to place him on his probation, and as
the title of this garden, the garden of the Lord (Ge 13:10; Eze 28:13),
indicates, it was in fact a temple in which he worshipped God, and was
daily employed in offering the sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise.
17. thou shalt not eat of it ... thou shalt surely die--no reason
assigned for the prohibition, but death was to be the punishment of
disobedience. A positive command like this was not only the simplest
and easiest, but the only trial to which their fidelity could be
exposed.
Ge 2:18-25. The Making of Woman, and Institution of Marriage.
18. it is not good for the man to be alone--In the midst of plenty and
delights, he was conscious of feelings he could not gratify. To make
him sensible of his wants,
19. God brought unto Adam--not all the animals in existence, but those
chiefly in his immediate neighborhood to be subservient to his use.
whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name
thereof--His powers of perception and intelligence were supernaturally
enlarged to know the characters, habits, and uses of each species that
was brought to him.
20. but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him--The design
of this singular scene was to show him that none of the living
creatures he saw were on an equal footing with himself, and that while
each class came with its mate of the same nature, form, and habits, he
alone had no companion. Besides, in giving names to them he was led to
exercise his powers of speech and to prepare for social intercourse
with his partner, a creature yet to be formed.
21. deep sleep--probably an ecstasy or trance like that of the
prophets, when they had visions and revelations of the Lord, for the
whole scene was probably visible to the mental eye of Adam, and hence
his rapturous exclamation.
took one of his ribs--"She was not made out of his head to surpass him,
nor from his feet to be trampled on, but from his side to be equal to
him, and near his heart to be dear to him."
23. Woman--in Hebrew, "man-ess."
24. one flesh--The human pair differed from all other pairs, that by
peculiar formation of Eve, they were one. And this passage is appealed
to by our Lord as the divine institution of marriage (Mt 19:4, 5; Eph
5:28). Thus Adam appears as a creature formed after the image of
God--showing his knowledge by giving names to the animals, his
righteousness by his approval of the marriage relation, and his
holiness by his principles and feelings, and finding gratification in
the service and enjoyment of God.
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CHAPTER 3
Ge 3:1-5. The Temptation.
1. the serpent--The fall of man was effected by the seductions of a
serpent. That it was a real serpent is evident from the plain and
artless style of the history and from the many allusions made to it in
the New Testament. But the material serpent was the instrument or tool
of a higher agent, Satan or the devil, to whom the sacred writers apply
from this incident the reproachful name of "the dragon, that old
serpent" [Re 20:2]. Though Moses makes no mention of this wicked
spirit--giving only the history of the visible world--yet in the fuller
discoveries of the Gospel, it is distinctly intimated that Satan was
the author of the plot (Joh 8:44; 2Co 11:3; 1Jo 3:8; 1Ti 2:14; Re
20:2).
more subtile--Serpents are proverbial for wisdom (Mt 10:16). But these
reptiles were at first, probably, far superior in beauty as well as in
sagacity to what they are in their present state.
He said--There being in the pure bosoms of the first pair no principle
of evil to work upon, a solicitation to sin could come only from
"without," as in the analogous case of Jesus Christ (Mt 4:3); and as
the tempter could not assume the human form, there being only Adam and
Eve in the world, the agency of an inferior creature had to be
employed. The dragon-serpent [Bochart] seemed the fittest for the vile
purpose; and the devil was allowed by Him who permitted the trial, to
bring articulate sounds from its mouth.
unto the woman--the object of attack, from his knowledge of her
frailty, of her having been but a short time in the world, her limited
experience of the animal tribes, and, above all, her being alone,
unfortified by the presence and counsels of her husband. Though sinless
and holy, she was a free agent, liable to be tempted and seduced.
yea, hath God said?--Is it true that He has restricted you in using the
fruits of this delightful place? This is not like one so good and kind.
Surely there is some mistake. He insinuated a doubt as to her sense of
the divine will and appeared as an angel of light (2Co 11:14), offering
to lead her to the true interpretation. It was evidently from her
regarding him as specially sent on that errand, that, instead of being
startled by the reptile's speaking, she received him as a heavenly
messenger.
2. the woman said, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the
garden--In her answer, Eve extolled the large extent of liberty they
enjoyed in ranging at will amongst all the trees--one only excepted,
with respect to which, she declared there was no doubt, either of the
prohibition or the penalty. But there is reason to think that she had
already received an injurious impression; for in using the words "lest
ye die," instead of "ye shall surely die" [Ge 2:17], she spoke as if
the tree had been forbidden because of some poisonous quality of its
fruit. The tempter, perceiving this, became bolder in his assertions.
4. Ye shall not surely die--He proceeded, not only to assure her of
perfect impunity, but to promise great benefits from partaking of it.
5. your eyes shall be opened--His words meant more than met the ear. In
one sense her eyes were opened; for she acquired a direful experience
of "good and evil"--of the happiness of a holy, and the misery of a
sinful, condition. But he studiously concealed this result from Eve,
who, fired with a generous desire for knowledge, thought only of rising
to the rank and privileges of her angelic visitants.
Ge 3:6-9. The Fall.
6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food--Her
imagination and feelings were completely won; and the fall of Eve was
soon followed by that of Adam. The history of every temptation, and of
every sin, is the same; the outward object of attraction, the inward
commotion of mind, the increase and triumph of passionate desire;
ending in the degradation, slavery, and ruin of the soul (Jas 1:15; 1Jo
2:16).
8. they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden--The
divine Being appeared in the same manner as formerly--uttering the
well-known tones of kindness, walking in some visible form (not running
hastily, as one impelled by the influence of angry feelings). How
beautifully expressive are these words of the familiar and
condescending manner in which He had hitherto held intercourse with the
first pair.
in the cool of the day--literally, "the breeze of the day," the
evening.
hid themselves amongst the trees of the garden--Shame, remorse, fear--a
sense of guilt--feelings to which they had hitherto been strangers
disordered their minds and led them to shun Him whose approach they
used to welcome. How foolish to think of eluding His notice (Ps
139:1-12).
Ge 3:10-13. The Examination.
10. afraid, because ... naked--apparently, a confession--the language
of sorrow; but it was evasive--no signs of true humility and
penitence--each tries to throw the blame on another.
12. The woman ... gave me--He blames God [Calvin]. As the woman had
been given him for his companion and help, he had eaten of the tree
from love to her; and perceiving she was ruined, was determined not to
survive her [M'knight].
13. beguiled--cajoled by flattering lies. This sin of the first pair
was heinous and aggravated--it was not simply eating an apple, but a
love of self, dishonor to God, ingratitude to a benefactor,
disobedience to the best of Masters--a preference of the creature to
the Creator.
Ge 3:14-24. The Sentence.
14. And the Lord God said unto the serpent--The Judge pronounces a
doom: first, on the material serpent, which is cursed above all
creatures. From being a model of grace and elegance in form, it has
become the type of all that is odious, disgusting, and low [Le CLERC,
Rosenmuller]; or the curse has converted its natural condition into a
punishment; it is now branded with infamy and avoided with horror;
next, on the spiritual serpent, the seducer. Already fallen, he was to
be still more degraded and his power wholly destroyed by the offspring
of those he had deceived.
15. thy seed--not only evil spirits, but wicked men.
seed of the woman--the Messiah, or His Church [Calvin, Hengstenberg].
I will put enmity between thee and the woman--God can only be said to
do so by leaving "the serpent and his seed to the influence of their
own corruption; and by those measures which, pursued for the salvation
of men, fill Satan and his angels with envy and rage."
thou shalt bruise his heel--The serpent wounds the heel that crushes
him; and so Satan would be permitted to afflict the humanity of Christ
and bring suffering and persecution on His people.
it shall bruise thy head--The serpent's poison is lodged in its head;
and a bruise on that part is fatal. Thus, fatal shall be the stroke
which Satan shall receive from Christ, though it is probable he did not
at first understand the nature and extent of his doom.
16. unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow--She was
doomed as a wife and mother to suffer pain of body and distress of
mind. From being the help meet of man and the partner of his affections
[Ge 2:18, 23], her condition would henceforth be that of humble
subjection.
17-19. unto Adam he said--made to gain his livelihood by tilling the
ground; but what before his fall he did with ease and pleasure, was not
to be accomplished after it without painful and persevering exertion.
19. till thou return unto the ground--Man became mortal; although he
did not die the moment he ate the forbidden fruit, his body underwent a
change, and that would lead to dissolution; the union subsisting
between his soul and God having already been dissolved, he had become
liable to all the miseries of this life and to the pains of hell for
ever. What a mournful chapter this is in the history of man! It gives
the only true account of the origin of all the physical and moral evils
that are in the world; upholds the moral character of God; shows that
man, made upright, fell from not being able to resist a slight
temptation; and becoming guilty and miserable, plunged all his
posterity into the same abyss (Ro 5:12). How astonishing the grace
which at that moment gave promise of a Saviour and conferred on her who
had the disgrace of introducing sin the future honor of introducing
that Deliverer (1Ti 2:15).
20. Adam called his wife's name Eve--probably in reference to her being
a mother of the promised Saviour, as well as of all mankind.
21. God made coats of skins--taught them to make these for themselves.
This implies the institution of animal sacrifice, which was undoubtedly
of divine appointment, and instruction in the only acceptable mode of
worship for sinful creatures, through faith in a Redeemer (Heb 9:22).
22. And God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us--not spoken in
irony as is generally supposed, but in deep compassion. The words
should be rendered, "Behold, what has become [by sin] of the man who
was as one of us"! Formed, at first, in our image to know good and
evil--how sad his condition now.
and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of
life--This tree being a pledge of that immortal life with which
obedience should be rewarded, man lost, on his fall, all claim to this
tree; and therefore, that he might not eat of it or delude himself with
the idea that eating of it would restore what he had forfeited, the
Lord sent him forth from the garden.
24. placed ... cherbim--The passage should be rendered thus: "And he
dwelt between the cherubim at the East of the Garden of Eden and a
fierce fire, or Shekinah, unfolding itself to preserve the way of the
tree of life." This was the mode of worship now established to show
God's anger at sin and teach the mediation of a promised Saviour as the
way of life, as well as of access to God. They were the same figures as
were afterwards in the tabernacle and temple; and now, as then, God
said, "I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between
the two cherubims" (Ex 25:22).
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CHAPTER 4
Ge 4:1-26. Birth of Cain and Abel.
1. Eve said, I have gotten a man from the Lord--that is, "by the help
of the Lord"--an expression of pious gratitude--and she called him
Cain, that is, "a possession," as if valued above everything else;
while the arrival of another son reminding Eve of the misery she had
entailed on her offspring, led to the name Abel, that is, either
weakness, vanity (Ps 39:5), or grief, lamentation. Cain and Abel were
probably twins; and it is thought that, at this early period, children
were born in pairs (Ge 5:4) [Calvin].
2. Abel was a keeper of sheep--literally, "a feeder of a flock," which,
in Oriental countries, always includes goats as well as sheep. Abel,
though the younger, is mentioned first, probably on account of the
pre-eminence of his religious character.
3. in process of time--Hebrew, "at the end of days," probably on the
Sabbath.
brought ... an offering unto the Lord--Both manifested, by the very act
of offering, their faith in the being of God and in His claims to their
reverence and worship; and had the kind of offering been left to
themselves, what more natural than that the one should bring "of the
fruits of the ground," and that the other should bring "of the
firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof" [Ge 4:4].
4. the Lord had respect unto Abel, not unto Cain, &c.--The words, "had
respect to," signify in Hebrew,--"to look at any thing with a keen
earnest glance," which has been translated, "kindle into a fire," so
that the divine approval of Abel's offering was shown in its being
consumed by fire (see Ge 15:17; Jud 13:20).
7. If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?--A better rendering
is, "Shalt thou not have the excellency"? which is the true sense of
the words referring to the high privileges and authority belonging to
the first-born in patriarchal times.
sin lieth at the door--sin, that is, a sin offering--a common meaning
of the word in Scripture (as in Ho 4:8; 2Co 5:21; Heb 9:28). The
purport of the divine rebuke to Cain was this, "Why art thou angry, as
if unjustly treated? If thou doest well (that is, wert innocent and
sinless) a thank offering would have been accepted as a token of thy
dependence as a creature. But as thou doest not well (that is, art a
sinner), a sin offering is necessary, by bringing which thou wouldest
have met with acceptance and retained the honors of thy birthright."
This language implies that previous instructions had been given as to
the mode of worship; Abel offered through faith (Heb 11:4).
unto thee shall be his desire--The high distinction conferred by
priority of birth is described (Ge 27:29); and it was Cain's
conviction, that this honor had been withdrawn from him, by the
rejection of his sacrifice, and conferred on his younger brother--hence
the secret flame of jealousy, which kindled into a settled hatred and
fell revenge.
8. And Cain talked with Abel his brother--Under the guise of brotherly
familiarity, he concealed his premeditated purpose till a convenient
time and place occurred for the murder (1Jo 3:12; Jude 11).
9. I know not--a falsehood. One sin leads to another.
10. the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me--Cain, to lull
suspicion, had probably been engaging in the solemnities of religion
when he was challenged directly from the Shekinah itself.
11, 12. now art thou cursed from the earth--a curse superadded to the
general one denounced on the ground for Adam's sin.
12. a fugitive--condemned to perpetual exile; a degraded outcast; the
miserable victim of an accusing conscience.
13, 14. And Cain said ... My punishment is greater than I can
bear--What an overwhelming sense of misery; but no sign of penitence,
nor cry for pardon.
14. every one that findeth me shall slay me--This shows that the
population of the world was now considerably increased.
15. whosoever slayeth Cain--By a special act of divine forbearance, the
life of Cain was to be spared in the then small state of the human
race.
set a mark--not any visible mark or brand on his forehead, but some
sign or token of assurance that his life would be preserved. This sign
is thought by the best writers to have been a wild ferocity of aspect
that rendered him an object of universal horror and avoidance.
16. presence of the Lord--the appointed place of worship at Eden.
Leaving it, he not only severed himself from his relatives but forsook
the ordinances of religion, probably casting off all fear of God from
his eyes so that the last end of this man is worse than the first (Mt
12:45).
land of Nod--of flight or exile--thought by many to have been
Arabia-Petræa--which was cursed to sterility on his account.
17-22. builded a city--It has been in cities that the human race has
ever made the greatest social progress; and several of Cain's
descendants distinguished themselves by their inventive genius in the
arts.
19. Lamech took unto him two wives--This is the first transgression of
the law of marriage on record, and the practice of polygamy, like all
other breaches of God's institutions, has been a fruitful source of
corruption and misery.
23, 24. Lamech said unto his wives--This speech is in a poetical form,
probably the fragment of an old poem, transmitted to the time of Moses.
It seems to indicate that Lamech had slain a man in self-defense, and
its drift is to assure his wives, by the preservation of Cain, that an
unintentional homicide, as he was, could be in no danger.
26. men began to call upon the name of the Lord--rather, by the name of
the Lord. God's people, a name probably applied to them in contempt by
the world.
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CHAPTER 5
Ge 5:1-32. Genealogy of the Patriarchs.
1. book of the generations--(See Ge 11:4).
Adam--used here either as the name of the first man, or of the human
race generally.
5. all the days ... Adam lived--The most striking feature in this
catalogue is the longevity of Adam and his immediate descendants. Ten
are enumerated (Ge 5:5-32) in direct succession whose lives far exceed
the ordinary limits with which we are familiar--the shortest being
three hundred sixty-five, [Ge 5:23] and the longest nine hundred
sixty-nine years [Ge 5:27]. It is useless to inquire whether and what
secondary causes may have contributed to this protracted
longevity--vigorous constitutions, the nature of their diet, the
temperature and salubrity of the climate; or, finally--as this list
comprises only the true worshippers of God--whether their great age
might be owing to the better government of their passions and the
quiet, even tenor of their lives. Since we cannot obtain satisfactory
evidence on these points, it is wise to resolve the fact into the
sovereign will of God. We can, however, trace some of the important
uses to which, in the early economy of Providence, it was subservient.
It was the chief means of reserving a knowledge of God, of the great
truths of religion, as well as the influence of genuine piety. So that,
as their knowledge was obtained by tradition, they would be in a
condition to preserve it in the greatest purity.
21. Enoch ... begat Methuselah--This name signifies, "He dieth, and the
sending forth," so that Enoch gave it as prophetical of the flood. It
is computed that Methuselah died in the year of that catastrophe.
24. And Enoch walked with God--a common phrase in Eastern countries
denoting constant and familiar intercourse.
was not; for God took him--In Heb 11:5, we are informed that he was
translated to heaven--a mighty miracle, designed to effect what
ordinary means of instruction had failed to accomplish, gave a palpable
proof to an age of almost universal unbelief that the doctrines which
he had taught (Jude 14, 15) were true and that his devotedness to the
cause of God and righteousness in the midst of opposition was highly
pleasing to the mind of God.
26. Lamech--a different person from the one mentioned in the preceding
chapter [Ge 4:18]. Like his namesake, however, he also spoke in numbers
on occasion of the birth of Noah--that is, "rest" or "comfort" [Ge
5:29, Margin]. "The allusion is, undoubtedly, to the penal consequences
of the fall in earthly toils and sufferings, and to the hope of a
Deliverer, excited by the promise made to Eve. That this expectation
was founded on a divine communication we infer from the importance
attached to it and the confidence of its expression" [Peter Smith].
32. Noah was five hundred years old: and ... begat--That he and the
other patriarchs were advanced in life before children were born to
them is a difficulty accounted for probably from the circumstance that
Moses does not here record their first-born sons, but only the
succession from Adam through Seth to Abraham.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 6
Ge 6:1-22. Wickedness of the World.
2. the sons of God saw the daughters of men--By the former is meant the
family of Seth, who were professedly religious; by the latter, the
descendants of apostate Cain. Mixed marriages between parties of
opposite principles and practice were necessarily sources of extensive
corruption. The women, religious themselves, would as wives and mothers
exert an influence fatal to the existence of religion in their
household, and consequently the people of that later age sank to the
lowest depravity.
3. flesh--utterly, hopelessly debased.
And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive--Christ, as God,
had by His Spirit inspiring Enoch, Noah, and perhaps other prophets
(1Pe 3:20; 2Pe 2:5; Jude 14), preached repentance to the antediluvians;
but they were incorrigible.
yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years--It is probable that
the corruption of the world, which had now reached its height, had been
long and gradually increasing, and this idea receives support from the
long respite granted.
4. giants--The term in Hebrew implies not so much the idea of great
stature as of reckless ferocity, impious and daring characters, who
spread devastation and carnage far and wide.
5, 6. God saw it ... repented ... grieved--God cannot change (Mal 3:6;
Jas 1:17); but, by language suited to our nature and experience, He is
described as about to alter His visible procedure towards mankind--from
being merciful and long-suffering, He was about to show Himself a God
of judgment; and, as that impious race had filled up the measure of
their iniquities, He was about to introduce a terrible display of His
justice (Ec 8:11).
8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord--favor. What an awful
state of things when only one man or one family of piety and virtue was
now existing among the professed sons of God!
9. Noah ... just ... and perfect--not absolutely; for since the fall of
Adam no man has been free from sin except Jesus Christ. But as living
by faith he was just (Ga 3:2; Heb 11:7) and perfect--that is, sincere
in his desire to do God's will.
11. the earth was filled with violence--In the absence of any
well-regulated government it is easy to imagine what evils would arise.
Men did what was right in their own eyes, and, having no fear of God,
destruction and misery were in their ways.
13. And God said unto Noah--How startling must have been the
announcement of the threatened destruction! There was no outward
indication of it. The course of nature and experience seemed against
the probability of its occurrence. The public opinion of mankind would
ridicule it. The whole world would be ranged against him. Yet,
persuaded the communication was from God, through faith (Heb 11:7), he
set about preparing the means for preserving himself and family from
the impending calamity.
14. Make thee an ark--ark, a hollow chest (Ex 2:3).
gopher wood--probably cypress, remarkable for its durability and
abounding on the Armenian mountains.
rooms--cabins or small cells.
pitch it within and without--mineral pitch, asphalt, naphtha, or some
bituminous substance, which, when smeared over and become hardened,
would make it perfectly watertight.
15. And this is the fashion--According to the description, the ark was
not a ship, but an immense house in form and structure like the houses
in the East, designed not to sail, but only to float. Assuming the
cubit to be 21.888 inches, the ark would be five hundred forty-seven
feet long, ninety-one feet two inches wide, and forty-seven feet two
inches high.
16. A window--probably a skylight, formed of some transparent substance
unknown.
in a cubit shalt thou finish it above--a direction to raise the roof in
the middle, seemingly to form a gentle slope for letting the water run
off.
17-22. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood--The repetition of the
announcement was to establish its certainty (Ge 41:32). Whatever
opinion may be entertained as to the operation of natural laws and
agencies in the deluge, it was brought on the world by God as a
punishment for the enormous wickedness of its inhabitants.
18. But with thee will I establish my covenant--a special promise of
deliverance, called a covenant, to convince him of the confidence to be
reposed in it. The substance and terms of this covenant are related at
Ge 6:19-21.
22. Thus did Noah--He began without delay to prepare the colossal
fabric, and in every step of his progress faithfully followed the
divine directions he had received.
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CHAPTER 7
Ge 7:1-24. Entrance into the Ark.
1. And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the
ark--The ark was finished; and Noah now, in the spirit of implicit
faith, which had influenced his whole conduct, waited for directions
from God.
2, 3. Of every clean beast ... fowls--Pairs of every species of
animals, except the tenants of the deep, were to be taken for the
preservation of their respective kinds. This was the general rule of
admission, only with regard to those animals which are styled "clean,"
three pairs were to be taken, whether of beasts or birds; and the
reason was that their rapid multiplication was a matter of the highest
importance, when the earth should be renovated, for their utility
either as articles of food or as employed in the service of man. But
what was the use of the seventh? It was manifestly reserved for
sacrifice; and so that both during Noah's residence in the ark, and
after his return to dry land, provision was made for celebrating the
rites of worship according to the religion of fallen man. He did not,
like many, leave religion behind. He provided for it during his
protracted voyage.
4. For yet seven days--A week for a world to repent! What a solemn
pause! Did they laugh and ridicule his folly still? He whose eyes saw
and whose heart felt the full amount of human iniquity and perverseness
has told us of their reckless disregard (Lu 17:27).
9. There went in two and two--Doubtless they were led by a divine
impulse. The number would not be so large as at first sight one is apt
to imagine. It has been calculated that there are not more than three
hundred distinct species of beasts and birds, the immense varieties in
regard to form, size, and color being traceable to the influence of
climate and other circumstances.
16. and the Lord shut him in--literally, "covered him round about." The
"shutting him in" intimated that Noah had become the special object of
divine care and protection, and that to those without the season of
grace was over (Mt 25:10).
17. the waters increased, and bare up the ark--It seems to have been
raised so gradually as to be scarcely perceptible to its occupants.
20. Fifteen cubits upward ... and the mountains were
covered--twenty-two and a half feet above the summits of the highest
hills. The language is not consistent with the theory of a partial
deluge.
21. all flesh died ... fowl ... cattle, and ... creeping thing--It has
been a uniform principle in the divine procedure, when judgments were
abroad on the earth, to include every thing connected with the sinful
objects of His wrath (Ge 19:25; Ex 9:6). Besides, now that the human
race was reduced to one single family, it was necessary that the beasts
should be proportionally diminished, otherwise by their numbers they
would have acquired the ascendancy and overmastered the few that were
to repeople the world. Thus goodness was mingled with severity; the
Lord exercises judgment in wisdom and in wrath remembers mercy.
24. an hundred and fifty days--a period of five months. Though long
before that every living creature must have been drowned, such a
lengthened continuance of the flood was designed to manifest God's
stern displeasure at sin and sinners. Think of Noah during such a
crisis. We learn (Eze 14:14) that he was a man who lived and breathed
habitually in an atmosphere of devotion; and having in the exercise of
this high-toned faith made God his refuge, he did not fear "though the
waters roared and were troubled; though the mountains shook with the
swelling thereof" [Ps 46:3].
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CHAPTER 8
Ge 8:1-14. Assuaging of the Waters.
1. And God remembered Noah--The divine purpose in this awful
dispensation had been accomplished, and the world had undergone those
changes necessary to fit it for becoming the residence of man under a
new economy of Providence.
and every living thing ... in the ark--a beautiful illustration of Mt
10:29.
and God made a wind to pass over the earth--Though the divine will
could have dried up the liquid mass in an instant, the agency of a wind
was employed (Ps 104:4)--probably a hot wind, which, by rapid
evaporation, would again absorb one portion of the waters into the
atmosphere; and by which, the other would be gradually drained off by
outlets beneath.
4. seventh month--of the year--not of the flood--which lasted only five
months.
rested--evidently indicating a calm and gentle motion.
upon the mountains of Ararat--or Armenia, as the word is rendered (2Ki
19:37; Isa 37:38). The mountain which tradition points to as the one on
which the ark rested is now called Ara Dagh, the "finger mountain." Its
summit consists of two peaks, the higher of which is 17,750 feet and
the other 13,420 above the level of the sea.
5. And the waters decreased continually--The decrease of the waters was
for wise reasons exceedingly slow and gradual--the period of their
return being nearly twice as long as that of their rise.
6. at the end of forty days--It is easy to imagine the ardent longing
Noah and his family must have felt to enjoy again the sight of land as
well as breathe the fresh air; and it was perfectly consistent with
faith and patience to make inquiries whether the earth was yet ready.
7. And he sent forth a raven--The smell of carrion would allure it to
remain if the earth were in a habitable state. But it kept hovering
about the spot, and, being a solitary bird, probably perched on the
covering.
8-11. Also he sent forth a dove--a bird flying low and naturally
disposed to return to the place of her abode.
10. again he sent forth the dove--Her flight, judging by the time she
was abroad, was pursued to a great distance, and the newly plucked
olive leaf, she no doubt by supernatural impulse brought in her bill,
afforded a welcome proof that the declivities of the hills were clear.
12. he ... sent forth the dove: which returned not ... any more--In
these results, we perceive a wisdom and prudence far superior to the
inspiration of instinct--we discern the agency of God guiding all the
movements of this bird for the instruction of Noah, and reviving the
hopes of his household.
other seven days--a strong presumptive proof that Noah observed the
Sabbath during his residence in the ark.
13, 14. Noah removed the covering of the ark--probably only as much of
it as would afford him a prospect of the earth around. Yet for about
two months he never stirred from his appointed abode till he had
received the express permission of God. We should watch the leading of
Providence to direct us in every step of the journey of life.
Ge 8:15-22. Departure from the Ark.
15, 16. And God spake ... Go forth--They went forth in the most orderly
manner--the human occupants first, then each species "after their
kinds" [Ge 8:19], literally, "according to their families," implying
that there had been an increase in the ark.
20. Noah builded an altar--literally, "a high place"--probably a mound
of earth, on which a sacrifice was offered. There is something
exceedingly beautiful and interesting to know that the first care of
this devout patriarch was to return thanks for the signal instance of
mercy and goodness which he and his family had experienced.
took of every clean beast ... fowl--For so unparalleled a deliverance,
a special acknowledgment was due.
21. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour--The sacrifice offered by a
righteous man like Noah in faith was acceptable as the most fragrant
incense.
Lord said in his heart--same as "I have sworn that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth" (Isa 54:9).
for--that is, "though the imagination is evil"; instead of inflicting
another destructive flood, I shall spare them--to enjoy the blessings
of grace, through a Saviour.
22. While the earth remaineth--The consummation, as intimated in 2Pe
3:7, does not frustrate a promise which held good only during the
continuance of that system. There will be no flood between this and
that day, when the earth therein shall be burnt up [Chalmers].
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CHAPTER 9
Ge 9:1-7. Covenant.
1. And God blessed Noah--Here is republished the law of nature that was
announced to Adam, consisting as it originally did of several parts.
Be fruitful, &c.--The first part relates to the transmission of life,
the original blessing being reannounced in the very same words in which
it had been promised at first [Ge 1:28].
2. And the fear of you and the dread of you--The second part
re-establishes man's dominion over the inferior animals; it was now
founded not as at first in love and kindness, but in terror; this dread
of man prevails among all the stronger as well as the weaker members of
the animal tribes and keeps away from his haunts all but those employed
in his service.
3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you--The third part
concerns the means of sustaining life; man was for the first time, it
would seem, allowed the use of animal food, but the grant was
accompanied with one restriction.
4. But flesh ... the blood ... shall ye not eat--The sole intention of
this prohibition was to prevent these excesses of cannibal ferocity in
eating flesh of living animals, to which men in the earlier ages of the
world were liable.
5. surely your blood of your lives will I require--The fourth part
establishes a new power for protecting life--the institution of the
civil magistrate (Ro 13:4), armed with public and official authority to
repress the commission of violence and crime. Such a power had not
previously existed in patriarchal society.
6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood ... for in the image of God made he
man--It is true that image has been injured by the fall, but it is not
lost. In this view, a high value is attached to the life of every man,
even the poorest and humblest, and an awful criminality is involved in
the destruction of it.
Ge 9:8-29. Rainbow.
13. I do set my bow in the cloud--set, that is, constitute or appoint.
This common and familiar phenomenon being made the pledge of peace, its
appearance when showers began to fall would be welcomed with the
liveliest feelings of joy.
20. And Noah ... planted a vineyard--Noah had been probably bred to the
culture of the soil, and resumed that employment on leaving the ark.
21. And he drank of the wine, and was drunken--perhaps at the
festivities of the vintage season. This solitary stain on the character
of so eminently pious a man must, it is believed, have been the result
of age or inadvertency.
24. This incident could scarcely have happened till twenty years after
the flood; for Canaan, whose conduct was more offensive than that even
of his father, was not born till after that event. It is probable that
there is a long interval included between these verses and that this
prophecy, like that of Jacob on his sons, was not uttered till near the
close of Noah's life when the prophetic spirit came upon him; this
presumption is strengthened by the mention of his death immediately
after.
25. Cursed be Canaan--This doom has been fulfilled in the destruction
of the Canaanites--in the degradation of Egypt and the slavery of the
Africans, the descendants of Ham.
26. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem--rather, "Blessed of Jehovah, my
God, be Shem,"--an intimation that the descendants of Shem should be
peculiarly honored in the service of the true God, His Church being for
ages established among them (the Jews), and of them, concerning the
flesh, Christ came. They got possession of Canaan, the people of that
land being made their "servants" either by conquest, or, like the
Gibeonites, by submission [Jos 9:25].
27. God shall enlarge Japheth--pointing to a vast increase in posterity
and possessions. Accordingly his descendants have been the most active
and enterprising, spread over the best and largest portion of the
world, all Europe and a considerable part of Asia.
he shall dwell in the tents of Shem--a prophecy being fulfilled at the
present day, as in India British Government is established and the
Anglo-Saxons being in the ascendancy from Europe to India, from India
over the American continent. What a wonderful prophecy in a few verses
(Isa 46:10; 1Pe 1:25)!
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CHAPTER 10
Ge 10:1-32. Genealogies.
1. sons of Noah--The historian has not arranged this catalogue
according to seniority of birth; for the account begins with the
descendants of Japheth, and the line of Ham is given before that of
Shem though he is expressly said to be the youngest or younger son of
Noah; and Shem was the elder brother of Japheth (Ge 10:21), the true
rendering of that passage.
generations, &c.--the narrative of the settlement of nations existing
in the time of Moses, perhaps only the principal ones; for though the
list comprises the sons of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, all their
descendants are not enumerated. Those descendants, with one or two
exceptions, are described by names indicative of tribes and nations and
ending in the Hebrew im, or the English "-ite."
5. the isles of the Gentiles--a phrase by which the Hebrews described
all countries which were accessible by sea (Isa 11:11; 20:6; Jer
25:22). Such in relation to them were the countries of Europe, the
peninsula of Lesser Asia, and the region lying on the east of the
Euxine. Accordingly, it was in these quarters the early descendants of
Japheth had their settlements.
6. sons of Ham--emigrated southward, and their settlements were: Cush
in Arabia, Canaan in the country known by his name, and Mizraim in
Egypt, Upper and Lower. It is generally thought that his father
accompanied him and personally superintended the formation of the
settlement, whence Egypt was called "the land of Ham" [Ps 105:23, 27;
106:22].
8. Nimrod--mentioned as eclipsing all his family in renown. He early
distinguished himself by his daring and successful prowess in hunting
wild beasts. By those useful services he earned a title to public
gratitude; and, having established a permanent ascendancy over the
people, he founded the first kingdom in the world [Ge 10:10].
10. the beginning of his kingdom--This kingdom, of course, though then
considered great, would be comparatively limited in extent, and the
towns but small forts.
11. Out of that land went forth Asshur--or, as the Margin has it, "He
[Nimrod] at the head of his army went forth into Assyria," that is, he
pushed his conquests into that country.
and builded Nineveh--opposite the town of Mosul, on the Tigris, and the
other towns near it. This raid into Assyria was an invasion of the
territories of Shem, and hence the name "Nimrod," signifying "rebel,"
is supposed to have been conferred on him from his daring revolt
against the divine distribution.
21. Unto Shem--The historian introduces him with marked distinction as
"the father of Eber," the ancestor of the Hebrews.
23. Aram--In the general division of the earth, the countries of
Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Syria, fell to his descendants.
24. Arphaxad--The settlement of his posterity was in the extensive
valley of Shinar, on the Tigris, towards the southern extremity of
Mesopotamia, including the country of Eden and the region on the east
side of the river.
25. Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided--After the flood (Ge
11:10-16) the descendants of Noah settled at pleasure and enjoyed the
produce of the undivided soil. But according to divine instruction,
made probably through Eber, who seems to have been distinguished for
piety or a prophetic character, the earth was divided and his son's
name, "Peleg," was given in memory of that event (see De 32:8; Ac
17:26).
32. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their
generations, in their nations, &c.--This division was made in the most
orderly manner; and the inspired historian evidently intimates that the
sons of Noah were ranged according to their nations, and every nation
ranked by its families, so that every nation had its assigned
territory, and in every nation the tribes, and in every tribe the
families, were located by themselves.
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CHAPTER 11
Ge 11:1-32. Confusion of Tongues.
1. the whole earth was of one language. The descendants of Noah, united
by the strong bond of a common language, had not separated, and
notwithstanding the divine command to replenish the earth, were
unwilling to separate. The more pious and well-disposed would of course
obey the divine will; but a numerous body, seemingly the aggressive
horde mentioned (Ge 10:10), determined to please themselves by
occupying the fairest region they came to.
2. land of Shinar--The fertile valley watered by the Euphrates and
Tigris was chosen as the center of their union and the seat of their
power.
3. brick--There being no stone in that quarter, brick is, and was, the
only material used for building, as appears in the mass of ruins which
at the Birs Nimroud may have been the very town formed by those ancient
rebels. Some of these are sun-dried--others burnt in the kiln and of
different colors.
slime--bitumen, a mineral pitch, which, when hardened, forms a strong
cement, commonly used in Assyria to this day, and forming the mortar
found on the burnt brick remains of antiquity.
4. a tower whose top may reach unto heaven--a common figurative
expression for great height (De 1:28; 9:1-6).
lest we be scattered--To build a city and a town was no crime; but to
do this to defeat the counsels of heaven by attempting to prevent
emigration was foolish, wicked, and justly offensive to God.
6. and now nothing will be restrained from them--an apparent admission
that the design was practicable, and would have been executed but for
the divine interposition.
7. confound their language--literally, "their lip"; it was a failure in
utterance, occasioning a difference in dialect which was intelligible
only to those of the same tribe. Thus easily by God their purpose was
defeated, and they were compelled to the dispersion they had combined
to prevent. It is only from the Scriptures we learn the true origin of
the different nations and languages of the world. By one miracle of
tongues men were dispersed and gradually fell from true religion. By
another, national barriers were broken down--that all men might be
brought back to the family of God.
28. Ur--now Orfa; that is, "light," or "fire." Its name probably
derived from its being devoted to the rites of fire-worship. Terah and
his family were equally infected with that idolatry as the rest of the
inhabitants (Jos 24:15).
31. Sarai his daughter-in-law--the same as Iscah [Ge 11:29],
granddaughter of Terah, probably by a second wife, and by early usages
considered marriageable to her uncle, Abraham.
they came unto Haran--two days' journey south-southeast from Ur, on the
direct road to the ford of the Euphrates at Rakka, the nearest and most
convenient route to Palestine.
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CHAPTER 12
Ge 12:1-20. Call to Abram.
1. Now the Lord had said unto Abram--It pleased God, who has often been
found of them who sought Him not, to reveal Himself to Abraham perhaps
by a miracle; and the conversion of Abraham is one of the most
remarkable in Bible history.
Get thee out of thy country--His being brought to the knowledge and
worship of the true God had probably been a considerable time before.
This call included two promises: the first, showing the land of his
future posterity; and the second, that in his posterity all the earth
was to be blessed (Ge 12:2). Abraham obeyed, and it is frequently
mentioned in the New Testament as a striking instance of his faith (Heb
11:8).
5. into the land of Canaan ... they came--with his wife and an orphan
nephew. Abram reached his destination in safety, and thus the first
promise was made good.
6. the place of Sichem--or Shechem, a pastoral valley then unoccupied
(compare Ge 33:18).
plain of Moreh--rather, the "terebinth tree" of Moreh, very common in
Palestine, remarkable for its wide-spreading branches and its dark
green foliage. It is probable that in Moreh there was a grove of these
trees, whose inviting shade led Abram to choose it for an encampment.
7. Unto thy seed will I give this land--God was dealing with Abram not
in his private and personal capacity merely, but with a view to high
and important interests in future ages. That land his posterity was for
centuries to inhabit as a peculiar people; the seeds of divine
knowledge were to be sown there for the benefit of all mankind; and
considered in its geographical situation, it was chosen in divine
wisdom as the fittest of all lands to serve as the cradle of a divine
revelation designed for the whole world.
and there builded he an altar unto the Lord--By this solemn act of
devotion Abram made an open profession of his religion, established the
worship of the true God, and declared his faith in the promise.
10. there was a famine ... and Abram went down into Egypt--He did not
go back to the place of his nativity, as regretting his pilgrimage and
despising the promised land (Heb 11:15), but withdrew for a while into
a neighboring country.
11-13. Sarai's complexion, coming from a mountainous country, would be
fresh and fair compared with the faces of Egyptian women which were
sallow. The counsel of Abram to her was true in words, but it was a
deception, intended to give an impression that she was no more than his
sister. His conduct was culpable and inconsistent with his character as
a servant of God: it showed a reliance on worldly policy more than a
trust in the promise; and he not only sinned himself, but tempted Sarai
to sin also.
14. when Abram was come into Egypt--It appears from the monuments of
that country that at the time of Abram's visit a monarchy had existed
for several centuries. The seat of government was in the Delta, the
most northern part of the country, the very quarter in which Abram must
have arrived. They were a race of shepherd-kings, in close alliance
with the people of Canaan.
15. the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house--Eastern kings have for
ages claimed the privilege of taking to their harem an unmarried woman
whom they like. The father or brother may deplore the removal as a
calamity, but the royal right is never resisted nor questioned.
16. he entreated Abram well for her sake--The presents are just what
one pastoral chief would give to another.
18-20. Here is a most humiliating rebuke, and Abram deserved it. Had
not God interfered, he might have been tempted to stay in Egypt and
forget the promise (Ps 105:13, 15). Often still does God rebuke His
people and remind them through enemies that this world is not their
rest.
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CHAPTER 13
Ge 13:1-18. Return from Egypt.
1. went up ... south--Palestine being a highland country, the entrance
from Egypt by its southern boundary is a continual ascent.
2. very rich--compared with the pastoral tribes to which Abraham
belonged. An Arab sheik is considered rich who has a hundred or two
hundred tents, from sixty to a hundred camels, a thousand sheep and
goats respectively. And Abram being very rich, must have far exceeded
that amount of pastoral property. "Gold and silver" being rare among
these peoples, his probably arose from the sale of his produce in
Egypt.
3. went on his journeys--His progress would be by slow marches and
frequent encampments as Abram had to regulate his movements by the
prospect of water and pasturage.
unto the place ... between Beth-el and Hai--"a conspicuous hill--its
topmost summit resting on the rocky slopes below, and distinguished by
its olive groves--offering a natural base for the altar and a fitting
shade for the tent of the patriarch" [Stanley].
4. there Abram called on the name of the Lord--He felt a strong desire
to reanimate his faith and piety on the scene of his former worship: it
might be to express humility and penitence for his misconduct in Egypt
or thankfulness for deliverance from perils--to embrace the first
opportunity on returning to Canaan of leading his family to renew
allegiance to God and offer the typical sacrifices which pointed to the
blessings of the promise.
7. And there was a strife--Abraham's character appears here in a most
amiable light. Having a strong sense of religion, he was afraid of
doing anything that might tend to injure its character or bring
discredit on its name, and he rightly judged that such unhappy effects
would be produced if two persons whom nature and grace had so closely
connected should come to a rupture [Ge 13:8]. Waiving his right to
dictate, he gave the freedom of choice to Lot. The conduct of Abraham
was not only disinterested and peaceable, but generous and
condescending in an extraordinary degree, exemplifying the Scripture
precepts (Mt 6:32; Ro 12:10, 11; Php 2:4).
10. Lot lifted up his eyes--Travellers say that from the top of this
hill, a little "to the east of Beth-el" [Ge 12:8], they can see the
Jordan, the broad meadows on either bank, and the waving line of
verdure which marks the course of the stream.
11. Then Lot chose him all the plain--a choice excellent from a worldly
point of view, but most inexpedient for his best interests. He seems,
though a good man, to have been too much under the influence of a
selfish and covetous spirit: and how many, alas! imperil the good of
their souls for the prospect of worldly advantage.
14, 15. Lift up now thine eyes ... all the land which thou seest--So
extensive a survey of the country, in all directions, can be obtained
from no other point in the neighborhood; and those plains and hills,
then lying desolate before the eyes of the solitary patriarch, were to
be peopled with a mighty nation "like the dust of the earth in number,"
as they were in Solomon's time (1Ki 4:20).
18. the plain of Mamre ... built ... an altar--the renewal of the
promise was acknowledged by Abram by a fresh tribute of devout
gratitude.
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CHAPTER 14
Ge 14:1-24. War.
1. And it came to pass--This chapter presents Abram in the unexpected
character of a warrior. The occasion was this: The king of Sodom and
the kings of the adjoining cities, after having been tributaries for
twelve years to the king of Elam, combined to throw off his yoke. To
chastise their rebellion, as he deemed it, Chedorlaomer, with the aid
of three allies, invaded the territories of the refractory princes,
defeated them in a pitched battle where the nature of the ground
favored his army (Ge 14:10), and hastened in triumph on his homeward
march, with a large amount of captives and booty, though merely a
stranger.
12. they took Lot ... and his goods, and departed--How would the
conscience of that young man now upbraid him for his selfish folly and
ingratitude in withdrawing from his kind and pious relative! Whenever
we go out of the path of duty, we put ourselves away from God's
protection, and cannot expect that the choice we make will be for our
lasting good.
13. there came one that had escaped--Abram might have excused himself
from taking any active concern in his "brother," that is, nephew, who
little deserved that he should incur trouble or danger on his account.
But Abram, far from rendering evil for evil, resolved to take immediate
measures for the rescue of Lot.
14. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed
his trained servants--domestic slaves, such as are common in Eastern
countries still and are considered and treated as members of the
family. If Abram could spare three hundred and eighteen slaves and
leave a sufficient number to take care of the flocks, what a large
establishment he must have had.
15, 16. he divided himself ... by night--This war between the petty
princes of ancient Canaan is exactly the same as the frays and
skirmishes between Arab chiefs in the present day. When a defeated
party resolves to pursue the enemy, they wait till they are fast
asleep; then, as they have no idea of posting sentinels, they rush upon
them from different directions, strike down the tent poles--if there is
any fight at all, it is the fray of a tumultuous mob--a panic commonly
ensues, and the whole contest is ended with little or no loss on either
side.
18. Melchizedek--This victory conferred a public benefit on that part
of the country; and Abram, on his return, was treated with high respect
and consideration, particularly by the king of Sodom and Melchizedek,
who seems to have been one of the few native princes, if not the only
one, who knew and worshipped, "the most high God," whom Abram served.
This king who was a type of the Saviour (Heb 7:1), came to bless God
for the victory which had been won, and in the name of God to bless
Abram, by whose arms it had been achieved--a pious acknowledgment which
we should imitate on succeeding in any lawful enterprise.
20. he gave him tithes of all--Here is an evidence of Abram's piety, as
well as of his valor; for it was to a priest or official mediator
between God and him that Abram gave a tenth of the spoil--a token of
his gratitude and in honor of a divine ordinance (Pr 3:9).
21. the king of Sodom said ... Give me the persons--According to the
war customs still existing among the Arab tribes, Abram might have
retained the recovered goods, and his right was acknowledged by the
king of Sodom. But with honest pride, and a generosity unknown in that
part of the world, he replied with strong phraseology common to the
East, "I have lifted up mine hand" [that is, I have sworn] unto the
Lord that I will not take from a thread even to a sandal-thong, and
that that I will not take any thing that [is] thine, lest thou shouldst
say, I have made Abram rich" [Ge 14:22, 23].
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CHAPTER 15
Ge 15:1-21. Divine Encouragement.
1. After these things--the conquest of the invading kings.
the word of the Lord--a phrase used, when connected with a vision, to
denote a prophetic message.
Fear not, Abram--When the excitement of the enterprise was over, he had
become a prey to despondency and terror at the probable revenge that
might be meditated against him. To dispel his fear, he was favored with
this gracious announcement. Having such a promise, how well did it
become him (and all God's people who have the same promise) to dismiss
fears, and cast all burdens on the Lord (Ps 27:3).
2. Lord God, what wilt thou give?--To his mind the declaration, "I am
thy exceeding great reward" [Ge 15:1], had but one meaning, or was
viewed but in one particular light, as bearing on the fulfilment of the
promise, and he was still experiencing the sickness of hope deferred.
3. Eliezer of Damascus ... one born in my house is mine heir--According
to the usage of nomadic tribes, his chief confidential servant, would
be heir to his possessions and honors. But this man could have become
his son only by adoption; and how sadly would that have come short of
the parental hopes he had been encouraged to entertain! His language
betrayed a latent spirit of fretfulness or perhaps a temporary failure
in the very virtue for which he is so renowned--and absolute submission
to God's time, as well as way, of accomplishing His promise.
4. This shall not be thine heir--To the first part of his address no
reply was given; but having renewed it in a spirit of more becoming
submission, "whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it" [Ge 15:8],
he was delighted by a most explicit promise of Canaan, which was
immediately confirmed by a remarkable ceremony.
9-21. Take me an heifer, &c.--On occasions of great importance, when
two or more parties join in a compact, they either observe precisely
the same rites as Abram did, or, where they do not, they invoke the
lamp as their witness. According to these ideas, which have been from
time immemorial engraven on the minds of Eastern people, the Lord
Himself condescended to enter into covenant with Abram. The patriarch
did not pass between the sacrifice and the reason was that in this
transaction he was bound to nothing. He asked a sign, and God was
pleased to give him a sign, by which, according to Eastern ideas, He
bound Himself. In like manner God has entered into covenant with us;
and in the glory of the only-begotten Son, who passed through between
God and us, all who believe have, like Abram, a sign or pledge in the
gift of the Spirit, whereby they may know that they shall inherit the
heavenly Canaan.
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CHAPTER 16
Ge 16:1-16. Bestowment of Hagar.
1. Now, Sarai ... had a handmaid--a female slave--one of those obtained
in Egypt.
3. Sarai ... gave her to ... Abram to be his wife--"Wife" is here used
to describe an inferior, though not degrading, relation, in countries
where polygamy prevails. In the case of these female slaves, who are
the personal property of his lady, being purchased before her marriage
or given as a special present to her, no one can become the husband's
secondary wife without her mistress consent or permission. This usage
seems to have prevailed in patriarchal times; and Hagar, Sarai's slave,
of whom she had the entire right of disposing, was given by her
mistress' spontaneous offer, to be the secondary wife of Abram, in the
hope of obtaining the long-looked-for heir. It was a wrong
step--indicating a want of simple reliance on God--and Sarai was the
first to reap the bitter fruits of her device.
5. And Sarai said ... My wrong be upon thee--Bursts of temper, or
blows, as the original may bear, took place till at length Hagar,
perceiving the hopelessness of maintaining the unequal strife, resolved
to escape from what had become to her in reality, as well as in name, a
house of bondage.
7. And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain--This well,
pointed out by tradition, lay on the side of the caravan road, in the
midst of Shur, a sandy desert on the west of Arabia-Petræa, to the
extent of a hundred fifty miles, between Palestine and Egypt. By taking
that direction, she seems to have intended to return to her relatives
in that country. Nothing but pride, passion, and sullen obstinacy,
could have driven any solitary person to brave the dangers of such an
inhospitable wild; and she would have died, had not the timely
appearance and words of the angel recalled her to reflection and duty.
11. Ishmael--Like other Hebrew names, this had a signification, and it
is made up of two words--"God hears." The reason is explained.
12. he will be a wild man--literally, "a wild ass man," expressing how
the wildness of Ishmael and his descendants resembles that of the wild
ass.
his hand will be against every man--descriptive of the rude, turbulent,
and plundering character of the Arabs.
dwell in the presence of all his brethren--dwell, that is, pitch tents;
and the meaning is that they maintain their independence in spite of
all attempts to extirpate or subdue them.
13. called the name--common in ancient times to name places from
circumstances; and the name given to this well was a grateful
recognition of God's gracious appearance in the hour of Hagar's
distress.
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CHAPTER 17
Ge 17:1-27. Renewal of the Covenant.
1. Abram ... ninety years old and nine--thirteen years after the birth
of Ishmael [Ge 16:16]. During that interval he had enjoyed the comforts
of communion with God but had been favored with no special revelation
as formerly, probably on account of his hasty and blameable marriage
with Hagar.
the Lord appeared--some visible manifestation of the divine presence,
probably the Shekinah or radiant glory of overpowering effulgence.
I am the Almighty God--the name by which He made Himself known to the
patriarchs (Ex 6:3), designed to convey the sense of "all-sufficient"
(Ps 16:5, 6; 73:25).
walk ... and ... perfect--upright, or sincere (Ps 51:6) in heart,
speech, and behavior.
3. Abram fell on his face--the attitude of profoundest reverence
assumed by Eastern people. It consists in the prostrate body resting on
the hands and knees, with the face bent till the forehead touches the
ground. It is an expression of conscious humility and profound
reverence.
4. my covenant is with thee--Renewed mention is made of it as the
foundation of the communication that follows. It is the covenant of
grace made with all who believe in the Saviour.
5. but thy name shall be Abraham--In Eastern countries a change of name
is an advertisement of some new circumstance in the history, rank, or
religion of the individual who bears it. The change is made variously,
by the old name being entirely dropped for the new, or by conjoining
the new with the old; or sometimes only a few letters are inserted, so
that the altered form may express the difference in the owner's state
or prospects. It is surprising how soon a new name is known and its
import spread through the country. In dealing with Abraham and Sarai,
God was pleased to adapt His procedure to the ideas and customs of the
country and age. Instead of Abram, "a high father," he was to be called
Abraham, "father of a multitude of nations" (see Re 2:17).
8. I will give unto thee ... the land--It had been previously promised
to Abraham and his posterity (Ge 15:18). Here it is promised as an
"everlasting possession," and was, therefore, a type of heaven, "the
better country" (Heb 11:16).
10. Every man child among you shall be circumcised--This was the sign
in the Old Testament Church as baptism is in the New, and hence the
covenant is called "covenant of circumcision" (Ac 7:8; Ro 4:11). The
terms of the covenant were these: on the one hand Abraham and his seed
were to observe the right of circumcision; and on the other, God
promised, in the event of such observance, to give them Canaan for a
perpetual possession, to be a God to him and his posterity, and that in
him and his seed all nations should be blessed.
15, 16. As for Sarai ... I will ... give thee a son also of her--God's
purposes are gradually made known. A son had been long ago promised to
Abraham. Now, at length, for the first time he is informed that it was
to be a child of Sarai.
17. Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed--It was not the sneer of
unbelief, but a smile of delight at the improbability of the event (Ro
4:20).
18. O that Ishmael might live before thee--natural solicitude of a
parent. But God's thoughts are not as man's thoughts [Isa 55:8].
19, 20. The blessings of the covenant are reserved for Isaac, but
common blessings were abundantly promised to Ishmael; and though the
visible Church did not descend from his family, yet personally he
might, and it is to be hoped did, enjoy its benefits.
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CHAPTER 18
Ge 18:1-8. Entertainment of Angels.
1. the Lord appeared--another manifestation of the divine presence,
more familiar than any yet narrated; and more like that in the fulness
of time, when the Word was made flesh.
plains of Mamre--rather, terebinth or oak of Mamre; a tall-spreading
tree or grove of trees.
sat in the tent door--The tent itself being too close and sultry at
noon, the shaded open front is usually resorted to for the air that may
be stirring.
2. lift up his eyes ... and, lo, three men--Travellers in that quarter
start at sunrise and continue till midday when they look out for some
resting-place.
he ran to meet them--When the visitor is an ordinary person, the host
merely rises; but if of superior rank, the custom is to advance a
little towards the stranger, and after a very low bow, turn and lead
him to the tent, putting an arm round his waist, or tapping him on the
shoulder as they go, to assure him of welcome.
3. My Lord, if now I have found favor--The hospitalities offered are
just of the kind that are necessary and most grateful, the refreshment
of water, for feet exposed to dust and heat by the sandals, being still
the first observed among the pastoral people of Hebron.
5. for therefore are ye come--No questions were asked. But Abraham knew
their object by the course they took--approaching directly in front of
the chief sheik's tent, which is always distinguishable from the rest
and thus showing their wish to be his guests.
6. Abraham hastened ... unto Sarah ... make cakes upon the
hearth--Bread is baked daily, no more than is required for family use,
and always by the women, commonly the wife. It is a short process.
Flour mixed with water is made into dough, and being rolled out into
cakes, it is placed on the earthen floor, previously heated by a fire.
The fire being removed, the cakes are laid on the ground, and being
covered over with hot embers, are soon baked, and eaten the moment they
are taken off.
7. Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf--Animal food is never
provided, except for visitors of a superior rank when a kid or lamb is
killed. A calf is still a higher stretch of hospitality, and it would
probably be cooked as is usually done when haste is required--either by
roasting it whole or by cutting it up into small pieces and broiling
them on skewers over the fire. It is always eaten along with boiled
corn swimming in butter or melted fat, into which every morsel of meat,
laid upon a piece of bread, is dipped, before being conveyed by the
fingers to the mouth.
8. milk--A bowl of camel's milk ends the repast.
he stood by them under the tree--The host himself, even though he has a
number of servants, deems it a necessary act of politeness to stand
while his guests are at their food, and Abraham evidently did this
before he was aware of the real character of his visitors.
Ge 18:9-15. Reproof of Sarah. An inquiry about his wife, so surprising
in strangers, the subject of conversation, and the fulfilment of the
fondly cherished promise within a specified time, showed Abraham that
he had been entertaining more than ordinary travellers (Heb 13:2).
10. Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him--The women's
apartment is in the back of the tent, divided by a thin partition from
the men's.
12. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself--Long delay seems to have
weakened faith. Sarah treated the announcement as incredible, and when
taxed with the silent sneer, she added falsehood to distrust. It was an
aggravated offense (Ac 5:4), and nothing but grace saved her (Ro 9:18).
Ge 18:16-22. Disclosure of Sodom's Doom.
16. the men rose ... Abraham went with them--It is customary for a host
to escort his guests a little way.
17. the Lord said, Shall I hide--The chief stranger, no other than the
Lord, disclosed to Abraham the awful doom about to be inflicted on
Sodom and the cities of the plain for their enormous wickedness.
21. I will go down ... and see--language used after the manner of men.
These cities were to be made examples to all future ages of God's
severity; and therefore ample proof given that the judgment was neither
rash nor excessive (Eze 18:23; Jer 18:7).
Ge 18:23-33. Abraham's Intercession.
23. Abraham drew near, and said, &c.--The scene described is full of
interest and instruction--showing in an unmistakable manner the
efficacy of prayer and intercession. (See also Pr 15:8; Jas 5:16).
Abraham reasoned justly as to the rectitude of the divine procedure (Ro
3:5, 6), and many guilty cities and nations have been spared on account
of God's people (Mt 5:13; 24:22).
33. the Lord ... left communing ... and Abraham returned unto his
place--Why did Abraham cease to carry his intercessions farther? Either
because he fondly thought that he was now sure of the cities being
preserved (Lu 13:9), or because the Lord restrained his mind from
further intercession (Jer 7:16; 11:14). But there were not ten
"righteous persons." There was only one, and he might without injustice
have perished in the general overthrow (Ec 9:2). But a difference is
sometimes made, and on this occasion the grace of God was manifested in
a signal manner for the sake of Abraham. What a blessing to be
connected with a saint of God!
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CHAPTER 19
Ge 19:1-38. Lot's Entertainment.
1. there came two angels--most probably two of those that had been with
Abraham, commissioned to execute the divine judgment against Sodom.
Lot sat in the gate of Sodom--In Eastern cities it is the market, the
seat of justice, of social intercourse and amusement, especially a
favorite lounge in the evenings, the arched roof affording a pleasant
shade.
2. turn in, I pray you ... tarry all night--offer of the same generous
hospitalities as described in Ge 18:2-8, and which are still
spontaneously practised in the small towns.
And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night--Where
there are no inns and no acquaintance, it is not uncommon for
travellers to sleep in the street wrapped up in their cloaks.
3. entered into his house--On removing to the plain, Lot intended at
first to live in his tent apart from the people [Ge 13:12]. But he was
gradually drawn in, dwelt in the city, and he and his family were
connected with the citizens by marriage ties.
4. men of Sodom, compassed the house--Appalling proofs are here given
of their wickedness. It is evident that evil communications had
corrupted good manners; otherwise Lot would never have acted as he did.
12, 13. Hast thou here any besides? ... we will destroy this
place--Apostolic authority has declared Lot was "a righteous man" (2Pe
2:8), at bottom good, though he contented himself with lamenting the
sins that he saw, instead of acting on his own convictions, and
withdrawing himself and family from such a sink of corruption. But
favor was shown him: and even his bad relatives had, for his sake, an
offer of deliverance, which was ridiculed and spurned (2Pe 3:4).
15-17. The kindly interest the angels took in the preservation of Lot
is beautifully displayed. But he "lingered." Was it from sorrow at the
prospect of losing all his property, the acquisition of many years? Or
was it that his benevolent heart was paralyzed by thoughts of the awful
crisis? This is the charitable way of accounting for a delay that would
have been fatal but for the friendly urgency of the angel.
18, 19. Lot said ... Oh, not so, my Lord ... I cannot escape to the
mountain--What a strange want of faith and fortitude, as if He who had
interfered for his rescue would not have protected Lot in the mountain
solitude.
21. See, I have accepted thee concerning this ... also--His request was
granted him, the prayer of faith availed, and to convince him, from his
own experience, that it would have been best and safest at once to
follow implicitly the divine directions.
22. Haste ... for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither--The
ruin of Sodom was suspended till he was secure. What care God does take
of His people (Re 7:3)! What a proof of the love which God bore to a
good though weak man!
24. Then the Lord rained ... brimstone and fire from ... heaven--God,
in accomplishing His purposes, acts immediately or mediately through
the agency of means; and there are strong grounds for believing that it
was in the latter way He effected the overthrow of the cities of the
plain--that it was, in fact, by a volcanic eruption. The raining down
of fire and brimstone from heaven is perfectly accordant with this idea
since those very substances, being raised into the air by the force of
the volcano, would fall in a fiery shower on the surrounding region.
This view seems countenanced by Job [Job 1:16; 18:15]. Whether it was
miraculously produced, or the natural operation employed by God, it is
not of much consequence to determine: it was a divine judgment,
foretold and designed for the punishment of those who were sinners
exceedingly.
26. Lot was accompanied by his wife and two daughters. But whether it
was from irresistible curiosity or perturbation of feeling, or that she
was about to return to save something, his wife lingered, and while
thus disobeying the parting counsel, "to look not back, nor stay in all
the plain" [Ge 19:17], the torrent of liquid lava enveloped her so that
she became the victim of her supine indolence or sinful rashness.
27. Abraham gat up early in the morning, &c.--Abraham was at this time
in Mamre, near Hebron, and a traveller last year verified the truth of
this passage. "From the height which overlooks Hebron, where the
patriarch stood, the observer at the present day has an extensive view
spread out before him towards the Dead Sea. A cloud of smoke rising
from the plain would be visible to a person at Hebron now, and could
have been, therefore, to Abraham as he looked toward Sodom on the
morning of its destruction by God" [Hackett]. It must have been an
awful sight, and is frequently alluded to in Scripture (De 29:23; Isa
13:19; Jude 7). "The plain which is now covered by the Salt or Dead Sea
shows in the great difference of level between the bottoms of the
northern and southern ends of the lake--the latter being thirteen feet
and the former thirteen hundred--that the southern end was of recent
formation, and submerged at the time of the fall of the cities"
[Lynch].
29. when God destroyed the cities, &c.--This is most welcome and
instructive after so painful a narrative. It shows if God is a
"consuming fire" to the wicked [De 4:24; Heb 12:29], He is the friend
of the righteous. He "remembered" the intercessions of Abraham, and
what confidence should not this give us that He will remember the
intercessions of a greater than Abraham in our behalf.
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CHAPTER 20
Ge 20:1-18. Abraham's Denial of His Wife.
1. Abraham journeyed from thence ... and dwelled between Kadesh and
Shur--Leaving the encampment, he migrated to the southern border of
Canaan. In the neighborhood of Gerar was a very rich and well-watered
pasture land.
2. Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister--Fear of the people
among whom he was, tempted him to equivocate. His conduct was highly
culpable. It was deceit, deliberate and premeditated--there was no
sudden pressure upon him--it was the second offense of the kind [see on
Ge 12:13]--it was a distrust of God every way surprising, and it was
calculated to produce injurious effects on the heathen around. Its
mischievous tendency was not long in being developed.
Abimelech (father-king) ... sent and took Sarah--to be one of his
wives, in the exercise of a privilege claimed by Eastern sovereigns,
already explained (see on Ge 12:15).
3. But God came to Abimelech in a dream--In early times a dream was
often made the medium of communicating important truths; and this
method was adopted for the preservation of Sarah.
9. Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said ... What hast thou done?--In
what a humiliating plight does the patriarch now appear--he, a servant
of the true God, rebuked by a heathen prince. Who would not rather be
in the place of Abimelech than of the honored but sadly offending
patriarch! What a dignified attitude is that of the king--calmly and
justly reproving the sin of the patriarch, but respecting his person
and heaping coals of fire on his head by the liberal presents made to
him.
11. And Abraham said ... I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in
this place--From the horrible vices of Sodom he seems to have taken up
the impression that all other cities of Canaan were equally corrupt.
There might have been few or none who feared God, but what a sad thing
when men of the world show a higher sense of honor and a greater
abhorrence of crimes than a true worshipper!
12. yet indeed she is my sister--(See on Ge 11:31). What a poor defense
Abraham made. The statement absolved him from the charge of direct and
absolute falsehood, but he had told a moral untruth because there was
an intention to deceive (compare Ge 12:11-13). "Honesty is always the
best policy." Abraham's life would have been as well protected without
the fraud as with it: and what shame to himself, what distrust to God,
what dishonor to religion might have been prevented! "Let us speak
truth every man to his neighbor" [Zec 8:16; Eph 4:25].
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CHAPTER 21
Ge 21:1-13. Birth of Isaac.
1. the Lord visited Sarah--The language of the historian seems
designedly chosen to magnify the power of God as well as His
faithfulness to His promise. It was God's grace that brought about that
event, as well as the raising of spiritual children to Abraham, of
which the birth of this son was typical [Calvin].
3, 4. Abraham called the name of his son ... Isaac ... and
circumcised--God was acknowledged in the name which, by divine command,
was given for a memorial (compare Ge 17:19), and also in the dedication
of the child by administering the seal of the covenant (compare Ge
17:10-12).
8. the child grew, and was weaned--children are suckled longer in the
East than in the Occident--boys usually for two or three years.
Abraham made a great feast, &c.--In Eastern countries this is always a
season of domestic festivity, and the newly weaned child is formally
brought, in presence of the assembled relatives and friends, to partake
of some simple viands. Isaac, attired in the symbolic robe, the badge
of birthright, was then admitted heir of the tribe [Rosenmuller].
9. Sarah saw the son of Hagar ... mocking--Ishmael was aware of the
great change in his prospects, and under the impulse of irritated or
resentful feelings, in which he was probably joined by his mother,
treated the young heir with derision and probably some violence (Ga
4:29).
10. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman--Nothing
but the expulsion of both could now preserve harmony in the household.
Abraham's perplexity was relieved by an announcement of the divine
will, which in everything, however painful to flesh and blood, all who
fear God and are walking in His ways will, like him, promptly obey.
This story, as the apostle tells us, in "an allegory" [Ga 4:24], and
the "persecution" by the son of the Egyptian was the commencement of
the four hundred years' affliction of Abraham's seed by the Egyptians.
12. in all that Sarah hath said--it is called the Scripture (Ga 4:30).
13. also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation--Thus
Providence overruled a family brawl to give rise to two great and
extraordinary peoples.
Ge 21:14-21. Expulsion of Ishmael.
14. Abraham rose up early, &c.--early, that the wanderers might reach
an asylum before noon. Bread includes all sorts of victuals--bottle, a
leathern vessel, formed of the entire skin of a lamb or kid sewed up,
with the legs for handles, usually carried over the shoulder. Ishmael
was a lad of seventeen years, and it is quite customary for Arab chiefs
to send out their sons at such an age to do for themselves: often with
nothing but a few days' provisions in a bag.
wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba--in the southern border of
Palestine, but out of the common direction, a wide extending desert,
where they lost their way.
15. the water was spent, &c.--Ishmael sank exhausted from fatigue and
thirst--his mother laid his head under one of the bushes to smell the
damp while she herself, unable to witness his distress, sat down at a
little distance in hopeless sorrow.
19. God opened her eyes--Had she forgotten the promise (Ge 16:11)?
Whether she looked to God or not, He regarded her and directed her to a
fountain close beside her, but probably hid amid brushwood, by the
waters of which her almost expiring son was revived.
20, 21. God was with the lad, &c.--Paran (that is, Arabia), where his
posterity has ever dwelt (compare Ge 16:12; also Isa 48:19; 1Pe 1:25).
his mother took him a wife--On a father's death, the mother looks out
for a wife for her son, however young; and as Ishmael was now virtually
deprived of his father, his mother set about forming a marriage
connection for him, it would seem, among her relatives.
Ge 21:22-34. Covenant.
22. Abimelech and Phichol--Here a proof of the promise (Ge 12:2) being
fulfilled, in a native prince wishing to form a solemn league with
Abraham. The proposal was reasonable, and agreed to [Ge 21:24].
25-31. And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well--Wells were of
great importance to a pastoral chief and on the successful operation of
sinking a new one, the owner was solemnly informed in person. If,
however, they were allowed to get out of repair, the restorer acquired
a right to them. In unoccupied lands the possession of wells gave a
right of property in the land, and dread of this had caused the offense
for which Abraham reproved Abimelech. Some describe four, others five,
wells in Beer-sheba.
33. Abraham planted a grove--Hebrew, "of tamarisks," in which
sacrificial worship was offered, as in a roofless temple.
34. Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land--a picture of pastoral
and an emblem of Christian life.
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CHAPTER 22
Ge 22:1-19. Offering Isaac.
1. God did tempt Abraham--not incite to sin (Jas 1:13), but try,
prove--give occasion for the development of his faith (1Pe 1:7).
and he said, ... Here I am--ready at a moment's warning for God's
service.
2. Take now thy son, &c.--Every circumstance mentioned was calculated
to give a deeper stab to the parental bosom. To lose his only son, and
by an act of his own hand, too!--what a host of conflicting feelings
must the order have raised! But he heard and obeyed without a murmur
(Ga 1:16; Lu 14:26).
3. Abraham rose ... early, &c.--That there might be no appearance of
delay or reluctance on his part, he made every preparation for the
sacrifice before setting out--the materials, the knife, and the
servants to convey them. From Beer-sheba to Moriah, a journey of two
days, he had the painful secret pent up in his bosom. So distant a
place must have been chosen for some important reason. It is generally
thought that this was one the hills of Jerusalem, on which the Great
Sacrifice was afterwards offered.
4. on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, &c.--Leaving the
servants at the foot [Ge 22:5], the father and son ascended the hill,
the one bearing the knife, and the other the wood for consuming the
sacrifice [Ge 22:6]. But there was no victim; and to the question so
naturally put by Isaac [Ge 22:7], Abraham contented himself by
replying, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt
offering." It has been supposed that the design of this extraordinary
transaction was to show him, by action instead of words, the way in
which all the families of the earth should be blessed; and that in his
answer to Isaac, he anticipated some substitution. It is more likely
that his words were spoken evasively to his son in ignorance of the
issue, yet in unbounded confidence that that son, though sacrificed,
would, in some miraculous way, be restored (Heb 11:19).
9. Abraham built an altar, &c.--Had not the patriarch been sustained by
the full consciousness of acting in obedience to God's will, the effort
would have been too great for human endurance; and had not Isaac, then
upwards of twenty years of age displayed equal faith in submitting,
this great trial could not have gone through.
11, 12. the angel ... called, &c.--The sacrifice was virtually
offered--the intention, the purpose to do it, was shown in all
sincerity and fulness. The Omniscient witness likewise declared His
acceptance in the highest terms of approval; and the apostle speaks of
it as actually made (Heb 11:17; Jas 2:21).
13-19. Abraham lifted up his eyes ... and behold ... a ram, &c.--No
method was more admirably calculated to give the patriarch a distinct
idea of the purpose of grace than this scenic representation: and hence
our Lord's allusion to it (Joh 8:56).
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CHAPTER 23
Ge 23:1, 2. Age and Death of Sarah.
1. Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old, &c.--Sarah is
the only woman in Scripture whose age, death, and burial are mentioned,
probably to do honor to the venerable mother of the Hebrew people.
2. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, &c.--He came from his own tent to
take his station at the door of Sarah's. The "mourning" describes his
conformity to the customary usage of sitting on the ground for a time;
while the "weeping" indicates the natural outburst of his sorrow.
Ge 23:3-20. Purchase of a Burying-Place.
3. Abraham stood up, &c.--Eastern people are always provided with
family burying-places; but Abraham's life of faith--his pilgrim
state--had prevented him acquiring even so small a possession (Ac 7:5).
spake unto the sons of Heth--He bespoke their kind offices to aid him
in obtaining possession of a cave that belonged to Ephron--a wealthy
neighbor.
9. Machpelah--the "double cave."
10. Ephron dwelt--literally, was "sitting" among the children of Heth
in the gate of the city where all business was transacted. But, though
a chief man among them, he was probably unknown to Abraham.
11-15. Ephron answered, Nay, my lord, &c.--Here is a great show of
generosity, but it was only a show; for while Abraham wanted only the
cave, he joins "the field and the cave"; and though he offered them
both as free gifts, he, of course, expected some costly presents in
return, without which, he would not have been satisfied. The patriarch,
knowing this, wished to make a purchase and asked the terms.
15. the land is worth four hundred shekels, &c.--as if Ephron had said,
"Since you wish to know the value of the property, it is so and so; but
that is a trifle, which you may pay or not as it suits you." They spoke
in the common forms of Arab civility, and this indifference was mere
affectation.
16. Abraham weighed ... the silver--The money, amounting to £50 was
paid in presence of the assembled witnesses; and it was weighed. The
practice of weighing money, which is often in lumps or rings, each
stamped with their weight, is still common in many parts of the East;
and every merchant at the gates or the bazaar has his scales at his
girdle.
19. Abraham buried Sarah--Thus he got possession of Machpelah and
deposited the remains of his lamented partner in a family vault which
was the only spot of ground he owned.
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CHAPTER 24
Ge 24:1-9. A Marriage Commission.
1. And Abraham was old ... take a wife--His anxiety to see his son
married was natural to his position as a pastoral chief interested in
preserving the honor of his tribe, and still more as a patriarch who
had regard to the divine promise of a numerous posterity.
2. said unto his eldest servant--Abraham being too old, and as the heir
of the promise not being at liberty to make even a temporary visit to
his native land, was obliged to intrust this delicate mission to
Eliezer, whom, although putting entire confidence in him, he on this
occasion bound by a solemn oath. A pastoral chief in the present day
would follow the same course if he could not go himself.
3. thou shalt not take a wife, &c.--Among pastoral tribes the
matrimonial arrangements are made by the parents, and a youth must
marry, not among strangers, but in his own tribe--custom giving him a
claim, which is seldom or never resisted, to the hand of his first
cousin. But Abraham had a far higher motive--a fear lest, if his son
married into a Canaanitish family, he might be gradually led away from
the true God.
Ge 24:10-67. The Journey.
10. the servant took ten camels, &c.--So great an equipage was to give
the embassy an appearance worthy of the rank and wealth of Abraham; to
carry provisions; to bear the marriage presents, which as usual would
be distributed over several beasts; besides one or two spare camels in
case of emergency.
went to Mesopotamia, &c.--A stranger in those regions, who wishes to
obtain information, stations himself at one of the wells in the
neighborhood of a town, and he is sure to learn all the news of the
place from the women who frequent them every morning and evening.
Eliezer followed this course, and letting his camels rest, he waited
till the evening time of water drawing.
12. And he said, O Lord God of my master--The servant appears worthy of
the master he served. He resolves to follow the leading of Providence;
and while he shows good sense in the tokens he fixes upon of
ascertaining the temper and character of the future bride, he never
doubts but that in such a case God will direct him.
15-21. before he had done speaking ... behold, Rebekah came out--As he
anticipated, a young woman unveiled, as in pastoral regions, appeared
with her pitcher on her shoulder. Her comely appearance, her affable
manners, her obliging courtesy in going down the steps to fetch water
not only to him but to pour it into the trough for his camels, afforded
him the most agreeable surprise. She was the very person his
imagination had pictured, and he proceeded to reward her civility.
22. the man took a golden earring, &c.--The ring was not for the ear,
but the nose; the armlets, such as young women in Syria and Arabia
still appear daily at wells decked in. They are worn from the elbow to
the wrist, commonly made of silver, copper, brass, or horn.
23-27. And said, Whose daughter art thou?--After telling her name and
family, the kind-hearted damsel hastened home to give notice of a
stranger's arrival.
28. and told them of her mother's house these things--the female
apartments. This family was in an advanced stage of pastoral life,
dwelling in a settled place and a fixed habitation.
29-31. Rebekah had a brother ... Laban ran out--From what we know of
his character, there is reason to believe that the sight of the
dazzling presents increased both his haste and his invitation.
32-49. the man came into the house, &c.--What a beautiful picture of
piety, fidelity, and disinterestedness in a servant! He declined all
attention to his own comforts till he had told his name and his errand.
50. Then Laban and Bethuel answered--The brothers conduct all the
marriage negotiations, their father being probably dead, and without
consulting their sister. Their language seems to indicate they were
worshippers of the true God.
53. And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and ... gold--These
are the usual articles, with money, that form a woman's dowry among the
pastoral tribes. Rebekah was betrothed and accompanied the servant to
Canaan.
64. she lighted off the camel--If Isaac were walking, it would have
been most unmannerly for her to have continued seated; an inferior, if
riding, always alights in presence of a person of rank, no exception
being made for women.
65. she took a veil, and covered herself--The veil is an essential part
of female dress. In country places it is often thrown aside, but on the
appearance of a stranger, it is drawn over the face, as to conceal all
but the eyes. In a bride it was a token of her reverence and subjection
to her husband.
67. And Isaac brought her into his mother's ... tent--thus establishing
her at once in the rights and honors of a wife before he had seen her
features. Disappointments often take place, but when Isaac saw his
wife, "he loved her."
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CHAPTER 25
Ge 25:1-6. Sons of Abraham.
1. Abraham took a wife--rather, "had taken"; for Keturah is called
Abraham's concubine, or secondary wife (1Ch 1:32); and as, from her
bearing six sons to him, it is improbable that he married after Sarah's
death; and also as he sent them all out to seek their own independence,
during his lifetime, it is clear that this marriage is related here out
of its chronological order, merely to form a proper winding up of the
patriarch's history.
5, 6. Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac ... unto the sons of the
concubines ... Abraham gave gifts--While the chief part of the
inheritance went to Isaac; the other sons (Ishmael included) migrated
to "the East country," that is, Arabia, but received each a portion of
the patrimony, perhaps in cattle and other things; and this settlement
of Abraham's must have given satisfaction, since it is still the rule
followed among the pastoral tribes.
Ge 25:7-11. Death of Abraham.
7. these are the days of ... Abraham--His death is here related, though
he lived till Jacob and Esau were fifteen years, just one hundred years
after coming to Canaan; "the father of the faithful," "the friend of
God" [Jas 2:23], died; and even in his death, the promises were
fulfilled (compare Ge 15:15). We might have wished some memorials of
his deathbed experience; but the Spirit of God has withheld them--nor
was it necessary; for (see Mt 7:16) from earth he passed into heaven
(Lu 16:22). Though dead he yet liveth (Mt 22:32).
9, 10. his sons ... buried him--Death often puts an end to strife,
reconciles those who have been alienated, and brings rival relations,
as in this instance, to mingle tears over a father's grave.
Ge 25:12-18. Descendants of Ishmael. Before passing to the line of the
promised seed, the historian gives a brief notice of Ishmael, to show
that the promises respecting that son of Abraham were fulfilled--first,
in the greatness of his posterity (compare Ge 17:20); and, secondly, in
their independence.
18. he died--rather, "it [their lot] fell" in the presence of his
brethren (compare Ge 16:12).
Ge 25:19-34. History of Isaac.
19. these are the generations--account of the leading events in his
life.
21. Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife--Though tried in a similar
way to his father, he did not follow the same crooked policy. Twenty
years he continued unblessed with offspring, whose seed was to be "as
the stars" [Ge 26:4]. But in answer to their mutual prayers (1Pe 3:7),
Rebekah was divinely informed that she was to be the mother of twins,
who should be the progenitors of two independent nations; that the
descendants of the younger should be the more powerful and subdue those
of the other (Ro 9:12; 2Ch 21:8).
27. the boys grew--from the first, opposite to each other in character,
manners, and habits.
28. The parents were divided in their affection; and while the grounds,
at least of the father's partiality, were weak, the distinction made
between the children led, as such conduct always does, to unhappy
consequences.
29. Jacob sod pottage--made of lentils or small beans, which are common
in Egypt and Syria. It is probable that it was made of Egyptian beans,
which Jacob had procured as a dainty; for Esau was a stranger to it. It
is very palatable; and to the weary hunter, faint with hunger, its odor
must have been irresistibly tempting.
31. Jacob said, Sell me ... thy birthright--that is, the rights and
privileges of the first-born, which were very important, the chief
being that they were the family priests (Ex 4:22) and had a double
portion of the inheritance (De 21:17).
32. Esau said ... I am at the point to die--that is, I am running daily
risk of my life; and of what use will the birthright be to me: so he
despised or cared little about it, in comparison with gratifying his
appetite--he threw away his religious privileges for a trifle; and
thence he is styled "a profane person" (Heb 12:16; also Job 31:7, 16;
6:13; Php 3:19). "There was never any meat, except the forbidden fruit,
so dear bought, as this broth of Jacob" [Bishop Hall].
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CHAPTER 26
Ge 26:1-35. Sojourn in Gerar.
1. And there was a famine in the land ... And Isaac went unto ...
Gerar--The pressure of famine in Canaan forced Isaac with his family
and flocks to migrate into the land of the Philistines, where he was
exposed to personal danger, as his father had been on account of his
wife's beauty; but through the seasonable interposition of Providence,
he was preserved (Ps 105:14, 15).
12. Then Isaac sowed in that land--During his sojourn in that district
he farmed a piece of land, which, by the blessing of God on his skill
and industry, was very productive (Isa 65:13; Ps 37:19); and by his
plentiful returns he increased so rapidly in wealth and influence that
the Philistines, afraid or envious of his prosperity, obliged him to
leave the place (Pr 27:4; Ec 4:4). This may receive illustration from
the fact that many Syrian shepherds at this day settle for a year or
two in a place, rent some ground, in the produce of which they trade
with the neighboring market, till the owners, through jealousy of their
growing substance, refuse to renew their lease and compel them to
remove elsewhere.
15. all the wells which his father's servants had digged ... the
Philistines had stopped, &c.--The same base stratagem for annoying
those against whom they have taken an umbrage is practiced still by
choking the wells with sand or stones, or defiling them with putrid
carcases.
17. valley of Gerar--torrent-bed or wady, a vast undulating plain,
unoccupied and affording good pasture.
18-22. Isaac digged again the wells of water--The naming of wells by
Abraham, and the hereditary right of his family to the property, the
change of the names by the Philistines to obliterate the traces of
their origin, the restoration of the names by Isaac, and the contests
between the respective shepherds to the exclusive possession of the
water, are circumstances that occur among the natives in those regions
as frequently in the present day as in the time of Isaac.
26-33. Then Abimelech went to him--As there was a lapse of ninety years
between the visit of Abraham and of Isaac, the Abimelech and Phichol
spoken of must have been different persons' official titles. Here is
another proof of the promise (Ge 12:2) being fulfilled, in an overture
of peace being made to him by the king of Gerar. By whatever motive the
proposal was dictated--whether fear of his growing power, or regret for
the bad usage they had given him, the king and two of his courtiers
paid a visit to the tent of Isaac (Pr 16:7). His timid and passive
temper had submitted to the annoyances of his rude neighbors; but now
that they wish to renew the covenant, he evinces deep feeling at their
conduct, and astonishment at their assurance, or artifice, in coming
near him. Being, however, of a pacific disposition, Isaac forgave their
offense, accepted their proposals, and treated them to the banquet by
which the ratification of a covenant was usually crowned.
34. Esau ... took to wife--If the pious feelings of Abraham recoiled
from the idea of Isaac forming a matrimonial connection with a
Canaanitish woman [Ge 24:3], that devout patriarch himself would be
equally opposed to such a union on the part of his children; and we may
easily imagine how much his pious heart was wounded, and the family
peace destroyed, when his favorite but wayward son brought no less than
two idolatrous wives among them--an additional proof that Esau neither
desired the blessing nor dreaded the curse of God. These wives never
gained the affections of his parents, and this estrangement was
overruled by God for keeping the chosen family aloof from the dangers
of heathen influence.
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CHAPTER 27
Ge 27:1-27. Infirmity of Isaac.
1. when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim--He was in his hundred
thirty-seventh year; and apprehending death to be near, Isaac prepared
to make his last will--an act of the gravest importance, especially as
it included the conveyance through a prophetic spirit of the
patriarchal blessing.
4. make ... savory meat--perhaps to revive and strengthen him for the
duty; or rather, "as eating and drinking" were used on all religious
occasions, he could not convey the right, till he had eaten of the meat
provided for the purpose by him who was to receive the blessing [Adam
Clarke] (compare Ge 18:7).
that my soul may bless thee--It is difficult to imagine him ignorant of
the divine purpose (compare Ge 25:23). But natural affection,
prevailing through age and infirmity, prompted him to entail the honors
and powers of the birthright on his elder son; and perhaps he was not
aware of what Esau had done (Ge 25:34).
6-10. Rebekah spake unto Jacob--She prized the blessing as invaluable;
she knew that God intended it for the younger son [Ge 25:23]; and in
her anxiety to secure its being conferred on the right object--on one
who cared for religion--she acted in the sincerity of faith; but in
crooked policy--with unenlightened zeal; on the false principle that
the end would sanctify the means.
11. Jacob said, Esau my brother is a hairy man--It is remarkable that
his scruples were founded, not on the evil of the act, but on the risk
and consequences of deception.
13-17. and his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse--His
conscience being soothed by his mother, preparations were hastily made
for carrying out the device; consisting, first, of a kid's flesh,
which, made into a ragout, spiced with salt, onions, garlic, and lemon
juice, might easily be passed off on a blind old man, with blunted
senses, as game; second, of pieces of goat's skin bound on his hands
and neck, its soft silken hair resembling that on the cheek of a young
man; third, of the long white robe--the vestment of the first-born,
which, transmitted from father to son and kept in a chest among
fragrant herbs and perfumed flowers used much in the East to keep away
moths--his mother provided for him.
18-27. he came unto his father--The scheme planned by the mother was to
be executed by the son in the father's bedchamber; and it is painful to
think of the deliberate falsehoods, as well as daring profanity, he
resorted to. The disguise, though wanting in one thing, which had
nearly upset the whole plot, succeeded in misleading Isaac; and while
giving his paternal embrace, the old man was roused into a state of
high satisfaction and delight.
27. the smell of my son is as of a field--The aromatic odors of the
Syrian fields and meadows, often impart a strong fragrance to the
person and clothes, as has been noticed by many travellers.
Ge 27:28-46. The Blessing.
28. God give thee of the dew of heaven--To an Oriental mind, this
phraseology implied the highest flow of prosperity. The copious fall of
dew is indispensable to the fruitfulness of lands, which would be
otherwise arid and sterile through the violent heat; and it abounds
most in hilly regions, such as Canaan, hence called the "fat land" (Ne
9:25, 35).
plenty of corn and wine--Palestine was famous for vineyards, and it
produced varieties of corn, namely, wheat, barley, oats, and rye.
29. Let people serve thee--fulfilled in the discomfiture of the hostile
tribes that opposed the Israelites in the wilderness; and in the
pre-eminence and power they attained after their national establishment
in the promised land. This blessing was not realized to Jacob, but to
his descendants; and the temporal blessings promised were but a shadow
of those spiritual ones, which formed the grand distinction of Jacob's
posterity.
30-35. Esau came in from his hunting--Scarcely had the former scene
been concluded, when the fraud was discovered. The emotions of Isaac,
as well as Esau, may easily be imagined--the astonishment, alarm, and
sorrow of the one; the disappointment and indignation of the other. But
a moment's reflection convinced the aged patriarch that the transfer of
the blessing was "of the Lord," and now irrevocable. The importunities
of Esau, however, overpowered him; and as the prophetic afflatus was
upon the patriarch, he added what was probably as pleasing to a man of
Esau's character as the other would have been.
39, 40. Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth--The
first part is a promise of temporal prosperity, made in the same terms
as Jacob's [Ge 27:28]--the second part refers to the roving life of
hunting freebooters, which he and his descendants should lead. Though
Esau was not personally subject to his brother, his posterity were
tributary to the Israelites, till the reign of Joram when they revolted
and established a kingdom of their own (2Ki 8:20; 2Ch 21:8-10).
41. Esau hated Jacob--It is scarcely to be wondered at that Esau
resented the conduct of Jacob and vowed revenge.
The days of mourning for my father are at hand--a common Oriental
phrase for the death of a parent.
42-45. these words of Esau were told Rebekah--Poor woman! she now early
begins to reap the bitter fruits of her fraudulent device; she is
obliged to part with her son, for whom she planned it, never, probably,
seeing him again; and he felt the retributive justice of heaven fall
upon him heavily in his own future family.
45. Why should I be deprived of you both?--This refers to the law of
Goelism, by which the nearest of kin would be obliged to avenge the
death of Jacob upon his brother.
46. Rebekah said to Isaac--Another pretext Rebekah's cunning had to
devise to obtain her husband's consent to Jacob's journey to
Mesopotamia; and she succeeded by touching the aged patriarch in a
tender point, afflicting to his pious heart--the proper marriage of
their younger son.
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CHAPTER 28
Ge 28:1-19. Jacob's Departure.
1. Isaac called Jacob and blessed him--He entered fully into Rebekah's
feelings, and the burden of his parting counsel to his son was to avoid
a marriage alliance with any but the Mesopotamian branch of the family.
At the same time he gave him a solemn blessing--pronounced before
unwittingly, now designedly, and with a cordial spirit. It is more
explicitly and fully given, and Jacob was thus acknowledged "the heir
of the promise."
6-9. when Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, &c.--Desirous to humor
his parents and, if possible, get the last will revoked, he became wise
when too late (see Mt 25:10), and hoped by gratifying his parents in
one thing to atone for all his former delinquencies. But he only made
bad worse, and though he did not marry a "wife of the daughters of
Canaan," he married into a family which God had rejected. It showed a
partial reformation, but no repentance, for he gave no proofs of
abating his vindictive purposes against his brother, nor cherishing
that pious spirit that would have gratified his father--he was like
Micah (see Jud 17:13).
10. Jacob went out, &c.--His departure from his father's house was an
ignominious flight; and for fear of being pursued or waylaid by his
vindictive brother, he did not take the common road, but went by lonely
and unfrequented paths, which increased the length and dangers of the
journey.
11. he lighted upon a certain place--By a forced march he had reached
Beth-el, about forty-eight miles from Beer-sheba, and had to spend the
night in the open field.
he took of the stones, etc.--"The nature of the soil is an existing
comment on the record of the stony territory where Jacob lay" [Clarke's
Travels].
12. he dreamed ... and behold a ladder--Some writers are of opinion
that it was not a literal ladder that is meant, as it is impossible to
conceive any imagery stranger and more unnatural than that of a ladder,
whose base was on earth, while its top reached heaven, without having
any thing on which to rest its upper extremity. They suppose that the
little heap of stones, on which his head reclined for a pillow, being
the miniature model of the object that appeared to his imagination, the
latter was a gigantic mountain pile, whose sides, indented in the rock,
gave it the appearance of a scaling ladder. There can be no doubt that
this use of the original term was common among the early Hebrews; as
Josephus, describing the town of Ptolemais (Acre), says it was bounded
by a mountain, which, from its projecting sides, was called "the
ladder," and the stairs that led down to the city are, in the original,
termed a ladder (Ne 3:15) though they were only a flight of steps cut
in the side of the rock. But whether the image presented to the mental
eye of Jacob were a common ladder, or such a mountain pile as has been
described, the design of this vision was to afford comfort,
encouragement, and confidence to the lonely fugitive, both in his
present circumstances and as to his future prospects. His thoughts
during the day must have been painful--he would be his own self-accuser
that he had brought exile and privation upon himself--and above all,
that though he had obtained the forgiveness of his father, he had much
reason to fear lest God might have forsaken him. Solitude affords time
for reflection; and it was now that God began to bring Jacob under a
course of religious instruction and training. To dispel his fears and
allay the inward tumult of his mind, nothing was better fitted than the
vision of the gigantic ladder, which reached from himself to heaven,
and on which the angels were continually ascending and descending from
God Himself on their benevolent errands (Joh 1:51).
13. The Lord stood above it, and said--That Jacob might be at no loss
to know the purport of the vision, he heard the divine voice; and the
announcement of His name, together with a renewal of the covenant, and
an assurance of personal protection, produced at once the most
solemnizing and inspiriting effect on his mind.
16. Jacob awaked out of his sleep--His language and his conduct were
alike that of a man whose mind was pervaded by sentiments of solemn
awe, of fervent piety, and lively gratitude (Jer 31:36).
18, 19. Jacob set up a stone, etc.--The mere setting up of the stone
might have been as a future memorial to mark the spot; and this
practice is still common in the East, in memory of a religious vow or
engagement. But the pouring oil upon it was a consecration. Accordingly
he gave it a new name, Beth-el, "the house of God" (Ho 12:4); and it
will not appear a thing forced or unnatural to call a stone a house,
when one considers the common practice in warm countries of sitting in
the open air by or on a stone, as are those of this place, "broad
sheets of bare rock, some of them standing like the cromlechs of
Druidical monuments" [Stanley].
Ge 28:20-22. Jacob's Vow.
20. Jacob vowed a vow--His words are not to be considered as implying a
doubt, far less as stating the condition or terms on which he would
dedicate himself to God. Let "if" be changed into "since," and the
language will appear a proper expression of Jacob's faith--an evidence
of his having truly embraced the promise. How edifying often to
meditate on Jacob at Beth-el.
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CHAPTER 29
Ge 29:1-35. The Well of Haran.
1. Then Jacob went, &c.--Hebrew, "lifted up his feet." He resumed his
way next morning with a light heart and elastic step after the vision
of the ladder; for tokens of the divine favor tend to quicken the
discharge of duty (Ne 8:10).
and came into the land, &c.--Mesopotamia and the whole region beyond
the Euphrates are by the sacred writers designated "the East" (Jud 6:3;
1Ki 4:30; Job 1:3). Between the first and the second clause of this
verse is included a journey of four hundred miles.
2. And he looked, &c.--As he approached the place of his destination,
he, according to custom, repaired to the well adjoining the town where
he would obtain an easy introduction to his relatives.
3. thither were all the flocks gathered; and a stone, &c.--In Arabia,
owing to the shifting sands and in other places, owing to the strong
evaporation, the mouth of a well is generally covered, especially when
it is private property. Over many is laid a broad, thick, flat stone,
with a round hole cut in the middle, forming the mouth of the cistern.
This hole is covered with a heavy stone which it would require two or
three men to roll away. Such was the description of the well at Haran.
4. Jacob said, My brethren--Finding from the shepherds who were
reposing there with flocks and who all belonged to Haran, that his
relatives in Haran were well and that one of the family was shortly
expected, he enquired why they were idling the best part of the day
there instead of watering their flocks and sending them back to
pasture.
8. They said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered--In order to
prevent the consequences of too frequent exposure in places where water
is scarce, the well is not only covered, but it is customary to have
all the flocks collected round it before the covering is removed in
presence of the owner or one of his representatives; and it was for
this reason that those who were reposing at the well of Haran with the
three flocks were waiting the arrival of Rachel.
9-11. While he yet spake with them, Rachel came--Among the pastoral
tribes the young unmarried daughters of the greatest sheiks tend the
flocks, going out at sunrise and continuing to watch their fleecy
charges till sunset. Watering them, which is done twice a day, is a
work of time and labor, and Jacob rendered no small service in
volunteering his aid to the young shepherdess. The interview was
affecting, the reception welcome, and Jacob forgot all his toils in the
society of his Mesopotamian relatives. Can we doubt that he returned
thanks to God for His goodness by the way?
12. Jacob told Rachel, &c.--According to the practice of the East, the
term "brother" is extended to remote degrees of relationship, as uncle,
cousin, or nephew.
14-20. he abode a month--Among pastoral people a stranger is freely
entertained for three days; on the fourth day he is expected to tell
his name and errand; and if he prolongs his stay after that time, he
must set his hand to work in some way, as may be agreed upon. A similar
rule obtained in Laban's establishment, and the wages for which his
nephew engaged to continue in his employment was the hand of Rachel.
17. Leah tender-eyed--that is, soft blue eyes--thought a blemish.
Rachel beautiful and well-favored--that is, comely and handsome in
form. The latter was Jacob's choice.
18. I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy daughter--A proposal
of marriage is made to the father without the daughter being consulted,
and the match is effected by the suitor either bestowing costly
presents on the family, or by giving cattle to the value the father
sets upon his daughter, or else by giving personal services for a
specified period. The last was the course necessity imposed on Jacob;
and there for seven years he submitted to the drudgery of a hired
shepherd, with the view of obtaining Rachel. The time went rapidly
away; for even severe and difficult duties become light when love is
the spring of action.
21. Jacob said, Give me my wife--At the expiry of the stipulated term
the marriage festivities were held. But an infamous fraud was practised
on Jacob, and on his showing a righteous indignation, the usage of the
country was pleaded in excuse. No plea of kindred should ever be
allowed to come in opposition to the claim of justice. But this is
often overlooked by the selfish mind of man, and fashion or custom
rules instead of the will of God. This was what Laban did, as he said,
"It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the
first-born." But, then, if that were the prevailing custom of society
at Haran, he should have apprized his nephew of it at an early period
in an honorable manner. This, however, is too much the way with the
people of the East still. The duty of marrying an elder daughter before
a younger, the tricks which parents take to get off an elder daughter
that is plain or deformed and in which they are favored by the long
bridal veil that entirely conceals her features all the wedding day,
and the prolongation for a week of the marriage festivities among the
greater sheiks, are accordant with the habits of the people in Arabia
and Armenia in the present day.
28. gave him Rachel also--It is evident that the marriage of both
sisters took place nearly about the same time, and that such a
connection was then allowed, though afterwards prohibited (Le 18:18).
29. gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah to be her maid--A father in good
circumstances still gives his daughter from his household a female
slave, over whom the young wife, independently of her husband, has the
absolute control.
31. Leah ... hated--that is, not loved so much as she ought to have
been. Her becoming a mother ensured her rising in the estimation both
of her husband and of society.
32-35. son ... his name Reuben--Names were also significant; and those
which Leah gave to her sons were expressive of her varying feelings of
thankfulness or joy, or allusive to circumstances in the history of the
family. There was piety and wisdom in attaching a signification to
names, as it tended to keep the bearer in remembrance of his duty and
the claims of God.
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CHAPTER 30
Ge 30:1-24. Domestic Jealousies.
1. Rachel envied her sister--The maternal relation confers a high
degree of honor in the East, and the want of that status is felt as a
stigma and deplored as a grievous calamity.
Give me children, or else I die--either be reckoned as good as dead, or
pine away from vexation. The intense anxiety of Hebrew women for
children arose from the hope of giving birth to the promised seed.
Rachel's conduct was sinful and contrasts unfavorably with that of
Rebekah (compare Ge 25:22) and of Hannah (1Sa 1:11).
3-9. Bilhah ... Zilpah--Following the example of Sarah with regard to
Hagar, an example which is not seldom imitated still, she adopted the
children of her maid. Leah took the same course. A bitter and intense
rivalry existed between them, all the more from their close
relationship as sisters; and although they occupied separate
apartments, with their families, as is the uniform custom where a
plurality of wives obtains, and the husband and father spends a day
with each in regular succession, that did not allay their mutual
jealousies. The evil lies in the system, which being a violation of
God's original ordinance, cannot yield happiness.
20. And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry--The birth of a
son is hailed with demonstrations of joy, and the possession of several
sons confers upon the mother an honor and respectability proportioned
to their number. The husband attaches a similar importance to the
possession, and it forms a bond of union which renders it impossible
for him ever to forsake or to be cold to a wife who has borne him sons.
This explains the happy anticipations Leah founded on the possession of
her six sons.
21. afterwards, she bare a daughter--The inferior value set on a
daughter is displayed in the bare announcement of the birth.
Ge 30:25-43. Jacob's Covenant with Laban.
25. when Rachel had born Joseph--Shortly after the birth of this son,
Jacob's term of servitude expired, and feeling anxious to establish an
independence for his family, he probably, from knowing that Esau was
out of the way, announced his intention of returning to Canaan (Heb
13:14). In this resolution the faith of Jacob was remarkable, for as
yet he had nothing to rely on but the promise of God (compare Ge
28:15).
27. Laban said ... I have learned--His selfish uncle was averse to a
separation, not from warmth of affection either for Jacob or his
daughters, but from the damage his own interests would sustain. He had
found, from long observation, that the blessing of heaven rested on
Jacob, and that his stock had wonderfully increased under Jacob's
management. This was a remarkable testimony that good men are blessings
to the places where they reside. Men of the world are often blessed
with temporal benefits on account of their pious relatives, though they
have not always, like Laban, the wisdom to discern, or the grace to
acknowledge it.
28. appoint me thy wages, and I will give it--The Eastern shepherds
receive for their hire not money, but a certain amount of the increase
or produce of the flock; but Laban would at the time have done anything
to secure the continued services of his nephew, and make a show of
liberality, which Jacob well knew was constrained.
31. Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing--A new agreement was
made, the substance of which was, that he was to receive remuneration
in the usual way, but on certain conditions which Jacob specified.
32. I will pass through all thy flock to-day--Eastern sheep being
generally white, the goats black, and spotted or speckled ones
comparatively few and rare, Jacob proposed to remove all existing ones
of that description from the flock, and to be content with what might
appear at the next lambing time. The proposal seemed so much in favor
of Laban, that he at once agreed to it. But Jacob has been accused of
taking advantage of his uncle, and though it is difficult to exculpate
him from practising some degree of dissimulation, he was only availing
himself of the results of his great skill and experience in the
breeding of cattle. But it is evident from the next chapter (Ge
31:5-13) that there was something miraculous and that the means he had
employed had been suggested by a divine intimation.
37. Jacob took rods, &c.--There are many varieties of the hazel, some
of which are more erect than the common hazel, and it was probably one
of these varieties Jacob employed. The styles are of a bright red
color, when peeled; and along with them he took wands of other shrubs,
which, when stripped of the bark, had white streaks. These, kept
constantly before the eyes of the female at the time of gestation, his
observation had taught him would have an influence, through the
imagination, on the future offspring.
38. watering troughs--usually a long stone block hollowed out, from
which several sheep could drink at once, but sometimes so small as to
admit of only one drinking at a time.
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CHAPTER 31
Ge 31:1-21. Envy of Laban and Sons.
1. he heard the words of Laban's sons--It must have been from rumor
that Jacob got knowledge of the invidious reflections cast upon him by
his cousins; for they were separated at the distance of three days'
journey.
2. And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban--literally, "was not the
same as yesterday, and the day before," a common Oriental form of
speech. The insinuations against Jacob's fidelity by Laban's sons, and
the sullen reserve, the churlish conduct, of Laban himself, had made
Jacob's situation, in his uncle's establishment, most trying and
painful. It is always one of the vexations attendant on worldly
prosperity, that it excites the envy of others (Ec 4:4); and that,
however careful a man is to maintain a good conscience, he cannot
always reckon on maintaining a good name, in a censorious world. This,
Jacob experienced; and it is probable that, like a good man, he had
asked direction and relief in prayer.
3. the Lord said ... Return unto the land of thy
fathers--Notwithstanding the ill usage he had received, Jacob might not
have deemed himself at liberty to quit his present sphere, under the
impulse of passionate fretfulness and discontent. Having been conducted
to Haran by God (Ge 28:15) and having got a promise that the same
heavenly Guardian would bring him again into the land of Canaan, he
might have thought he ought not to leave it, without being clearly
persuaded as to the path of duty. So ought we to set the Lord before
us, and to acknowledge Him in all our ways, our journeys, our
settlements, and plans in life.
4. Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah--His wives and family were in
their usual residence. Whether he wished them to be present at the
festivities of sheep shearing, as some think; or, because he could not
leave his flock, he called them both to come to him, in order that,
having resolved on immediate departure, he might communicate his
intentions. Rachel and Leah only were called, for the other two wives,
being secondary and still in a state of servitude, were not entitled to
be taken into account. Jacob acted the part of a dutiful husband in
telling them his plans; for husbands that love their wives should
consult with them and trust in them (Pr 31:11).
6. ye know that ... I have served your father--Having stated his strong
grounds of dissatisfaction with their father's conduct and the ill
requital he had got for all his faithful services, he informed them of
the blessing of God that had made him rich notwithstanding Laban's
design to ruin him; and finally, of the command from God he had
received to return to his own country, that they might not accuse him
of caprice, or disaffection to their family; but be convinced, that in
resolving to depart, he acted from a principle of religious obedience.
14. Rachel and Leah answered--Having heard his views, they expressed
their entire approval; and from grievances of their own, they were
fully as desirous of a separation as himself. They display not only
conjugal affection, but piety in following the course
described--"whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do" [Ge 31:16]. "Those
that are really their husbands' helpmeets will never be their
hindrances in doing that to which God calls them" [Henry].
17. Then Jacob rose up--Little time is spent by pastoral people in
removing. The striking down the tents and poles and stowing them among
their other baggage; the putting their wives and children in houdas
like cradles, on the backs of camels, or in panniers on asses; and the
ranging of the various parts of the flock under the respective
shepherds; all this is a short process. A plain that is covered in the
morning with a long array of tents and with browsing flocks, may, in a
few hours, appear so desolate that not a vestige of the encampment
remains, except the holes in which the tent poles had been fixed.
18. he carried the cattle of his getting--that is, his own and nothing
more. He did not indemnify himself for his many losses by carrying off
any thing of Laban's, but was content with what Providence had given
him. Some may think that due notice should have been given; but when a
man feels himself in danger--the law of self-preservation prescribes
the duty of immediate flight, if it can be done consistently with
conscience.
20. Jacob stole away--The result showed the prudence and necessity of
departing secretly; otherwise, Laban might have detained him by
violence or artifice.
Ge 31:22-55. Laban Pursues Jacob--Their Covenant at Gilead.
22-24. it was told Laban on the third day--No sooner did the news reach
Laban than he set out in pursuit, and he being not encumbered, advanced
rapidly; whereas Jacob, with a young family and numerous flocks, had to
march slowly, so that he overtook the fugitives after seven days'
journey as they lay encamped on the brow of mount Gilead, an extensive
range of hills forming the eastern boundary of Canaan. Being
accompanied by a number of his people, he might have used violence had
he not been divinely warned in a dream to give no interruption to his
nephew's journey. How striking and sudden a change! For several days he
had been full of rage, and was now in eager anticipation that his
vengeance would be fully wreaked, when lo! his hands are tied by
invisible power (Ps 76:10). He did not dare to touch Jacob, but there
was a war of words.
26-30. Laban said ... What hast thou done?--Not a word is said of the
charge (Ge 31:1). His reproaches were of a different kind. His first
charge was for depriving him of the satisfaction of giving Jacob and
his family the usual salutations at parting. In the East it is
customary, when any are setting out to a great distance, for their
relatives and friends to accompany them a considerable way with music
and valedictory songs. Considering the past conduct of Laban, his
complaint on this ground was hypocritical cant. But his second charge
was a grave one--the carrying off his gods--Hebrew, "teraphim," small
images of human figures, used not as idols or objects of worship, but
as talismans, for superstitious purposes.
31, 32. Jacob said, ... With whomsoever thou findest thy gods let him
not live--Conscious of his own innocence and little suspecting the
misdeed of his favorite wife, Jacob boldly challenged a search and
denounced the heaviest penalty on the culprit. A personal scrutiny was
made by Laban, who examined every tent [Ge 31:33]; and having entered
Rachel's last, he would have infallibly discovered the stolen images
had not Rachel made an appeal to him which prevented further search [Ge
31:34, 35].
34. Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's furniture,
and sat upon them--The common pack saddle is often used as a seat or a
cushion, against which a person squatted on the floor may lean.
36, 37. Jacob was wroth--Recrimination on his part was natural in the
circumstances, and, as usual, when passion is high, the charges took a
wide range. He rapidly enumerated his grievances for twenty years and
in a tone of unrestrained severity described the niggard character and
vexatious exactions of his uncle, together with the hardships of
various kinds he had patiently endured.
38. The rams of thy flock have I not eaten--Eastern people seldom kill
the females for food except they are barren.
39. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee--The
shepherds are strictly responsible for losses in the flock, unless they
can prove these were occasioned by wild beasts.
40. in the day the drought ... and the frost by night--The temperature
changes often in twenty-four hours from the greatest extremes of heat
and cold, most trying to the shepherd who has to keep watch by his
flocks. Much allowance must be made for Jacob. Great and long-continued
provocations ruffle the mildest and most disciplined tempers. It is
difficult to "be angry and sin not" [Eph 4:26]. But these two
relatives, after having given utterance to their pent-up feelings, came
at length to a mutual understanding, or rather, God influenced Laban to
make reconciliation with his injured nephew (Pr 16:7).
44. Come thou, let us make a covenant--The way in which this covenant
was ratified was by a heap of stones being laid in a circular pile, to
serve as seats, and in the center of this circle a large one was set up
perpendicularly for an altar. It is probable that a sacrifice was first
offered, and then that the feast of reconciliation was partaken of by
both parties seated on the stones around it. To this day heaps of
stones, which have been used as memorials, are found abundantly in the
region where this transaction took place.
52. This heap be witness--Objects of nature were frequently thus spoken
of. But over and above, there was a solemn appeal to God; and it is
observable that there was a marked difference in the religious
sentiments of the two. Laban spake of the God of Abraham and Nahor,
their common ancestors; but Jacob, knowing that idolatry had crept in
among that branch of the family, swore by the "fear of his father
Isaac." They who have one God should have one heart: they who are
agreed in religion should endeavor to agree in everything else.
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CHAPTER 32
Ge 32:1, 2. Vision of Angels.
1. angels of God met him--It is not said whether this angelic
manifestation was made in a vision by day, or a dream by night. There
is an evident allusion, however, to the appearance upon the ladder
(compare Ge 28:12), and this occurring to Jacob on his return to
Canaan, was an encouraging pledge of the continued presence and
protection of God (Ps 34:7; Heb 1:14).
2. Mahanaim--"two hosts," or "camps." The place was situated between
mount Gilead and the Jabbok, near the banks of that brook.
Ge 32:3-32. Mission to Esau.
3. Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau--that is, "had sent." It
was a prudent precaution to ascertain the present temper of Esau, as
the road, on approaching the eastern confines of Canaan, lay near the
wild district where his brother was now established.
land of Seir--a highland country on the east and south of the Dead Sea,
inhabited by the Horites, who were dispossessed by Esau or his
posterity (De 11:12). When and in what circumstances he had emigrated
thither, whether the separation arose out of the undutiful conduct and
idolatrous habits of his wives, which had made them unwelcome in the
tent of his parents, or whether his roving disposition had sought a
country from his love of adventure and the chase, he was living in a
state of power and affluence, and this settlement on the outer borders
of Canaan, though made of his own free will, was overruled by
Providence to pave the way for Jacob's return to the promised land.
4. Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau--The purport of the message
was that, after a residence of twenty years in Mesopotamia, he was now
returning to his native land, that he did not need any thing, for he
had abundance of pastoral wealth, but that he could not pass without
notifying his arrival to his brother and paying the homage of his
respectful obeisance. Acts of civility tend to disarm opposition and
soften hatred (Ec 10:4).
Thy servant Jacob--He had been made lord over his brethren (compare Ge
27:29). But it is probable he thought this referred to a spiritual
superiority; or if to temporal, that it was to be realized only to his
posterity. At all events, leaving it to God to fulfil that purpose, he
deemed it prudent to assume the most kind and respectful bearing.
6. The messengers returned to Jacob--Their report left Jacob in painful
uncertainty as to what was his brother's views and feelings. Esau's
studied reserve gave him reason to dread the worst. Jacob was naturally
timid; but his conscience told him that there was much ground for
apprehension, and his distress was all the more aggravated that he had
to provide for the safety of a large and helpless family.
9-12. Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham--In this great emergency,
he had recourse to prayer. This is the first recorded example of prayer
in the Bible. It is short, earnest, and bearing directly on the
occasion. The appeal is made to God, as standing in a covenant relation
to his family, just as we ought to put our hopes of acceptance with God
in Christ. It pleads the special promise made to him of a safe return;
and after a most humble and affecting confession of unworthiness, it
breathes an earnest desire for deliverance from the impending danger.
It was the prayer of a kind husband, an affectionate father, a firm
believer in the promises.
13-23. took ... a present for Esau--Jacob combined active exertions
with earnest prayer; and this teaches us that we must not depend upon
the aid and interposition of God in such a way as to supersede the
exercise of prudence and foresight. Superiors are always approached
with presents, and the respect expressed is estimated by the quality
and amount of the gift. The present of Jacob consisted of five hundred
fifty head of cattle, of different kinds, such as would be most prized
by Esau. It was a most magnificent present, skilfully arranged and
proportioned. The milch camels alone were of immense value; for the she
camels form the principal part of Arab wealth; their milk is a chief
article of diet; and in many other respects they are of the greatest
use.
16. every drove by themselves--There was great prudence in this
arrangement; for the present would thus have a more imposing
appearance; Esau's passion would have time to cool as he passed each
successive company; and if the first was refused, the others would
hasten back to convey a timely warning.
17. he commanded the foremost--The messengers were strictly commanded
to say the same words [Ge 32:18, 20], that Esau might be more impressed
and that the uniformity of the address might appear more clearly to
have come from Jacob himself.
21. himself lodged--not the whole night, but only a part of it.
22. ford Jabbok--now the Zerka--a stream that rises among the mountains
of Gilead, and running from east to west, enters the Jordan, about
forty miles south of the Sea of Tiberias. At the ford it is ten yards
wide. It is sometimes forded with difficulty; but in summer it is very
shallow.
he rose up and took--Unable to sleep, Jacob waded the ford in the night
time by himself; and having ascertained its safety, he returned to the
north bank and sent over his family and attendants, remaining behind,
to seek anew, in silent prayer, the divine blessing on the means he had
set in motion.
24, 25. There wrestled a man with him--This mysterious person is called
an angel (Ho 12:4) and God (Ge 32:28, 30; Ho 12:5); and the opinion
that is most supported is that he was "the angel of the covenant," who,
in a visible form, appeared to animate the mind and sympathize with the
distress of his pious servant. It has been a subject of much discussion
whether the incident described was an actual conflict or a visionary
scene. Many think that as the narrative makes no mention in express
terms either of sleep, or dream, or vision, it was a real transaction;
while others, considering the bodily exhaustion of Jacob, his great
mental anxiety, the kind of aid he supplicated, as well as the analogy
of former manifestations with which he was favored--such as the
ladder--have concluded that it was a vision [Calvin, Hessenberg,
Hengstenberg]. The moral design of it was to revive the sinking spirit
of the patriarch and to arm him with confidence in God, while
anticipating the dreaded scenes of the morrow. To us it is highly
instructive; showing that, to encourage us valiantly to meet the trials
to which we are subjected, God allows us to ascribe to the efficacy of
our faith and prayers, the victories which His grace alone enables us
to make.
26. I will not let thee go, except thou bless me--It is evident that
Jacob was aware of the character of Him with whom he wrestled; and,
believing that His power, though by far superior to human, was yet
limited by His promise to do him good, he determined not to lose the
golden opportunity of securing a blessing. And nothing gives God
greater pleasure than to see the hearts of His people firmly adhering
to Him.
28. Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel--The old name
was not to be abandoned; but, referring as it did to a dishonorable
part of the patriarch's history, it was to be associated with another
descriptive of his now sanctified and eminently devout character.
29. Jacob asked, Tell me ... thy name--The request was denied that he
might not be too elated with his conquest nor suppose that he had
obtained such advantage over the angel as to make him do what he
pleased.
31. halted upon his thigh--As Paul had a thorn in the flesh given to
humble him, lest he should be too elevated by the abundant revelations
granted him [2Co 12:7], so Jacob's lameness was to keep him mindful of
this mysterious scene, and that it was in gracious condescension the
victory was yielded to him. In the greatest of these spiritual
victories which, through faith, any of God's people obtain, there is
always something to humble them.
32. the sinew which shrank--the nerve that fastens the thigh bone in
its socket. The practice of the Jews in abstaining from eating this in
the flesh of animals, is not founded on the law of Moses, but is merely
a traditional usage. The sinew is carefully extracted; and where there
are no persons skilled enough for that operation, they do not make use
of the hind legs at all.
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CHAPTER 33
Ge 33:1-11. Kindness of Jacob and Esau.
1. behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men--Jacob having
crossed the ford and ranged his wives and children in order--the
dearest last, that they might be the least exposed to danger--awaited
the expected interview. His faith was strengthened and his fears gone
(Ps 27:3). Having had power to prevail with God, he was confident of
the same power with man, according to the promise (compare Ge 32:28).
3. he bowed himself ... seven times--The manner of doing this is by
looking towards a superior and bowing with the upper part of the body
brought parallel to the ground, then advancing a few steps and bowing
again, and repeating his obeisance till, at the seventh time, the
suppliant stands in the immediate presence of his superior. The members
of his family did the same. This was a token of profound respect, and,
though very marked, it would appear natural; for Esau being the elder
brother, was, according to the custom of the East, entitled to
respectful treatment from his younger brother. His attendants would be
struck by it, and according to Eastern habits, would magnify it in the
hearing of their master.
4. Esau ran to meet him--What a sudden and surprising change! Whether
the sight of the princely present and the profound homage of Jacob had
produced this effect, or it proceeded from the impulsive character of
Esau, the cherished enmity of twenty years in a moment disappeared; the
weapons of war were laid aside, and the warmest tokens of mutual
affection reciprocated between the brothers. But doubtless, the
efficient cause was the secret, subduing influence of grace (Pr 21:1),
which converted Esau from an enemy into a friend.
5. Who are those with thee?--It might have been enough to say, They are
my children; but Jacob was a pious man, and he could not give even a
common answer but in the language of piety (Ps 127:3; 113:9; 107:41).
11. He urged him and he took it--In the East the acceptance by a
superior is a proof of friendship, and by an enemy, of reconciliation.
It was on both accounts Jacob was so anxious that his brother should
receive the cattle; and in Esau's acceptance he had the strongest
proofs of a good feeling being established that Eastern notions admit
of.
Ge 33:12-20. The Parting.
12. And he said, Let us take our journey--Esau proposed to accompany
Jacob and his family through the country, both as a mark of friendship
and as an escort to guard them. But the proposal was prudently
declined. Jacob did not need any worldly state or equipage.
Notwithstanding the present cordiality, the brothers were so different
in spirit, character, and habits--the one so much a man of the world,
and the other a man of God, that there was great risk of something
occurring to disturb the harmony. Jacob having alleged a very
reasonable excuse for the tardiness of his movements, the brothers
parted in peace.
14. until I come unto my lord--It seems to have been Jacob's intention,
passing round the Dead Sea, to visit his brother in Seir, and thus,
without crossing the Jordan, go to Beer-sheba to Isaac; but he changed
his plan, and whether the intention was carried out then or at a future
period has not been recorded.
17. Jacob journeyed to Succoth--that is, "booths," that being the first
station at which Jacob halted on his arrival in Canaan. His posterity,
when dwelling in houses of stone, built a city there and called it
Succoth, to commemorate the fact that their ancestor, "a Syrian ready
to perish" [De 26:5], was glad to dwell in booths.
18. Shalem--that is, "peace"; and the meaning may be that Jacob came
into Canaan, arriving safe and sound at the city Shechem--a tribute to
Him who had promised such a return (compare Ge 28:15). But most writers
take Shalem as a proper name--a city of Shechem, and the site is marked
by one of the little villages about two miles to the northeast. A
little farther in the valley below Shechem "he bought a parcel of a
field," thus being the first of the patriarchs who became a proprietor
of land in Canaan.
19. an hundred pieces of money--literally, "lambs"; probably a coin
with the figure of a lamb on it.
20. and he erected ... an altar--A beautiful proof of his personal
piety, a most suitable conclusion to his journey, and a lasting
memorial of a distinguished favor in the name "God, the God of Israel."
Wherever we pitch a tent, God shall have an altar.
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CHAPTER 34
Ge 34:1-31. The Dishonor of Dinah.
1-4. Though freed from foreign troubles, Jacob met with a great
domestic calamity in the fall of his only daughter. According to
Josephus, she had been attending a festival; but it is highly probable
that she had been often and freely mixing in the society of the place
and that she, being a simple, inexperienced, and vain young woman, had
been flattered by the attentions of the ruler's son. There must have
been time and opportunities of acquaintance to produce the strong
attachment that Shechem had for her.
5. Jacob held his peace--Jacob, as a father and a good man, must have
been deeply distressed. But he could do little. In the case of a family
by different wives, it is not the father, but the full brothers, on
whom the protection of the daughters devolves--they are the guardians
of a sister's welfare and the avengers of her wrongs. It was for this
reason that Simeon and Levi, the two brothers of Dinah by Leah [Ge
34:25], appear the chief actors in this episode; and though the two
fathers would have probably brought about an amicable arrangement of
the affair, the hasty arrival of these enraged brothers introduced a
new element into the negotiations.
6. Hamor--that is, "ass"; and it is a striking proof of the very
different ideas which, in the East, are associated with that animal,
which there appears sprightly, well proportioned, and of great
activity. This chief is called Emmor (Ac 7:16).
7. the men were grieved, and ... very wroth--Good men in such a case
could not but grieve; but it would have been well if their anger had
been less, or that they had known the precept "let not the sun go down
upon your wrath" [Eph 4:26]. No injury can justify revenge (De 32:35;
Ro 12:9); but Jacob's sons planned a scheme of revenge in the most
deceitful manner.
8-10. Hamor communed with them--The prince and his son seem at first
sight to have acted honestly, and our feelings are enlisted on their
side. They betray no jealousy of the powerful shepherds; on the
contrary, they show every desire to establish friendly intercourse. But
their conduct was unjustifiable in neither expressing regret nor
restoring Dinah to her family; and this great error was the true cause
of the negotiations ending in so unhappy a manner.
11. Shechem said unto her father ... and brethren--The consideration of
the proposal for marriage belonged to Jacob, and he certainly showed
great weakness in yielding so much to the fiery impetuosity of his
sons. The sequel shows the unhappy consequences of that concession.
12. Ask me never so much dowry and gift--The gift refers to the
presents made at betrothal, both to the bride elect and her relations
(compare Ge 24:53), the dowry to a suitable settlement upon her.
13. The sons of Jacob answered--The honor of their family consisted in
having the sign of the covenant. Circumcision was the external rite by
which persons were admitted members of the ancient Church. But that
outward rite could not make the Shechemites true Israelites; and yet it
does not appear that Jacob's sons required anything more. Nothing is
said of their teaching the people to worship the true God, but only of
their insisting on their being circumcised; and it is evident that they
did not seek to convert Shechem, but only made a show of religion--a
cloak to cover their diabolical design. Hypocrisy and deceit, in all
cases vicious, are infinitely more so when accompanied with a show of
religion; and here the sons of Jacob, under the pretense of
conscientious scruples, conceal a scheme of treachery as cruel and
diabolical as was, perhaps, ever perpetrated.
20. Hamor and Shechem ... came unto the gate of their city--That was
the place where every public communication was made; and in the ready
obsequious submission of the people to this measure we see an evidence
either of the extraordinary affection for the governing family, or of
the abject despotism of the East, where the will of a chief is an
absolute command.
30. Jacob said ... Ye have troubled me--This atrocious outrage
perpetrated on the defenseless citizens and their families made the cup
of Jacob's affliction overflow. We may wonder that, in speaking of it
to his sons, he did not represent it as a heinous sin, an atrocious
violation of the laws of God and man, but dwelt solely on the present
consequences. It was probably because that was the only view likely to
rouse the cold-blooded apathy, the hardened consciences of those
ruffian sons. Nothing but the restraining power of God saved him and
his family from the united vengeance of the people (compare Ge 35:5).
All his sons had not been engaged in the massacre. Joseph was a boy,
Benjamin not yet born, and the other eight not concerned in it. Simeon
and Levi alone, with their retainers, had been the guilty actors in the
bloody tragedy. But the Canaanites would not be discriminating in their
vengeance; and if all the Shechemites were put to death for the offense
of their chief's son, what wonder if the natives should extend their
hatred to all the family of Jacob; and who probably equalled, in
number, the inhabitants of that village.
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CHAPTER 35
Ge 35:1-15. Removal to Bethel.
1. God said unto Jacob, Arise, &c.--This command was given seasonably
in point of time and tenderly in respect of language. The disgraceful
and perilous events that had recently taken place in the patriarch's
family must have produced in him a strong desire to remove without
delay from the vicinity of Shechem. Borne down by an overwhelming sense
of the criminality of his two sons--of the offense they had given to
God and the dishonor they had brought on the true faith; distracted,
too, with anxiety about the probable consequences which their outrage
might bring upon himself and family, should the Canaanite people
combine to extirpate such a band of robbers and murderers; he must have
felt this call as affording a great relief to his afflicted feelings.
At the same time it conveyed a tender rebuke.
go up to Beth-el--Beth-el was about thirty miles south of Shechem and
was an ascent from a low to a highland country. There, he would not
only be released from the painful associations of the latter place but
be established on a spot that would revive the most delightful and
sublime recollections. The pleasure of revisiting it, however, was not
altogether unalloyed.
make there an altar unto God, that appeared--It too frequently happens
that early impressions are effaced through lapse of time, that promises
made in seasons of distress, are forgotten; or, if remembered on the
return of health and prosperity, there is not the same alacrity and
sense of obligation felt to fulfil them. Jacob was lying under that
charge. He had fallen into spiritual indolence. It was now eight or ten
years since his return to Canaan. He had effected a comfortable
settlement and had acknowledged the divine mercies, by which that
return and settlement had been signally distinguished (compare Ge
33:19). But for some unrecorded reason, his early vow at Beth-el [Ge
28:20-22], in a great crisis of his life, remained unperformed. The
Lord appeared now to remind him of his neglected duty, in terms,
however, so mild, as awakened less the memory of his fault, than of the
kindness of his heavenly Guardian; and how much Jacob felt the touching
nature of the appeal to that memorable scene at Beth-el, appears in the
immediate preparations he made to arise and go up thither (Ps 66:13).
2. Then Jacob said unto his household ... Put away the strange gods
that are among you--Hebrew, "gods of the stranger," of foreign nations.
Jacob had brought, in his service, a number of Mesopotamian retainers,
who were addicted to superstitious practices; and there is some reason
to fear that the same high testimony as to the religious
superintendence of his household could not have been borne of him as
was done of Abraham (Ge 18:19). He might have been too negligent
hitherto in winking at these evils in his servants; or, perhaps, it was
not till his arrival in Canaan, that he had learnt, for the first time,
that one nearer and dearer to him was secretly infected with the same
corruption (Ge 31:34). Be that as it may, he resolved on an immediate
and thorough reformation of his household; and in commanding them to
put away the strange gods, he added,
be clean, and change your garments--as if some defilement, from contact
with idolatry, should still remain about them. In the law of Moses,
many ceremonial purifications were ordained and observed by persons who
had contracted certain defilements, and without the observance of
which, they were reckoned unclean and unfit to join in the social
worship of God. These bodily purifications were purely figurative; and
as sacrifices were offered before the law, so also were external
purifications, as appears from the words of Jacob; hence it would seem
that types and symbols were used from the fall of man, representing and
teaching the two great doctrines of revealed truth--namely, the
atonement of Christ and the sanctification of our nature.
4. they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods ... and earrings--Strange
gods, the "seraphim" (compare Ge 31:30), as well, perhaps, as other
idols acquired among the Shechemite spoil--earrings of various forms,
sizes, and materials, which are universally worn in the East, and, then
as now, connected with incantation and idolatry (compare Ho 2:13). The
decided tone which Jacob now assumed was the probable cause of the
alacrity with which those favorite objects of superstition were
surrendered.
Jacob hid them under the oak--or terebinth--a towering tree, which,
like all others of the kind, was a striking object in the scenery of
Palestine; and beneath which, at Shechem, the patriarch had pitched his
tent. He hid the images and amulets, delivered to him by his
Mesopotamian dependents, at the root of this tree. The oak being deemed
a consecrated tree, to bury them at its root was to deposit them in a
place where no bold hand would venture to disturb the ground; and hence
it was called from this circumstance--"the plain of Meonenim"--that is,
"the oak of enchantments" (Jud 9:37); and from the great stone which
Joshua set up--"the oak of the pillar" (Jud 9:6).
5. the terror of God was upon the cities--There was every reason to
apprehend that a storm of indignation would burst from all quarters
upon Jacob's family, and that the Canaanite tribes would have formed
one united plan of revenge. But a supernatural panic seized them; and
thus, for the sake of the "heir of the promise," the protecting shield
of Providence was specially held over his family.
6. So Jacob came to Luz ... that is, Beth-el--It is probable that this
place was unoccupied ground when Jacob first went to it; and that after
that period [Calvin], the Canaanites built a town, to which they gave
the name of Luz [Ge 28:19], from the profusion of almond trees that
grew around. The name of Beth-el, which would, of course, be confined
to Jacob and his family, did not supersede the original one, till long
after. It is now identified with the modern Beitin and lies on the
western slope of the mountain on which Abraham built his altar (Ge
12:8).
7. El-Beth-el--that is, "the God of Beth-el."
8. Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died--This event seems to have taken place
before the solemnities were commenced. Deborah (Hebrew, a "bee"),
supposing her to have been fifty years on coming to Canaan, had
attained the great age of a hundred eighty. When she was removed from
Isaac's household to Jacob's, is unknown. But it probably was on his
return from Mesopotamia; and she would have been of invaluable service
to his young family. Old nurses, like her, were not only honored, but
loved as mothers; and, accordingly, her death was the occasion of great
lamentation. She was buried under the oak--hence called "the terebinth
of tears" (compare 1Ki 13:14). God was pleased to make a new appearance
to him after the solemn rites of devotion were over. By this
manifestation of His presence, God testified His acceptance of Jacob's
sacrifice and renewed the promise of the blessings guaranteed to
Abraham and Isaac [Ge 35:11, 12]; and the patriarch observed the
ceremony with which he had formerly consecrated the place, comprising a
sacramental cup, along with the oil that he poured on the pillar, and
reimposing the memorable name [Ge 35:14]. The whole scene was in
accordance with the character of the patriarchal dispensation, in which
the great truths of religion were exhibited to the senses, and "the
world's grey fathers" taught in a manner suited to the weakness of an
infantile condition.
13. God went up from him--The presence of God was indicated in some
visible form and His acceptance of the sacrifice shown by the
miraculous descent of fire from heaven, consuming it on the altar.
Ge 35:16-27. Birth of Benjamin--Death of Rachel, &c.
16. And they journeyed from Beth-el--There can be no doubt that much
enjoyment was experienced at Beth-el, and that in the religious
observances solemnized, as well as in the vivid recollections of the
glorious vision seen there, the affections of the patriarch were
powerfully animated and that he left the place a better and more
devoted servant of God. When the solemnities were over, Jacob, with his
family, pursued a route directly southward, and they reached Ephrath,
when they were plunged into mourning by the death of Rachel, who sank
in childbirth, leaving a posthumous son [Ge 35:18]. A very affecting
death, considering how ardently the mind of Rachel had been set on
offspring (compare Ge 30:1).
18. She called his name Ben-oni--The dying mother gave this name to her
child, significant of her circumstances; but Jacob changed his name
into Benjamin. This is thought by some to have been originally
Benjamin, "a son of days," that is, of old age. But with its present
ending it means "son of the right hand," that is, particularly dear and
precious.
19. Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem--The one, the old name; the other, the
later name, signifying "house of bread."
20. and Jacob set a pillar on her grave ... unto this day--The spot
still marked out as the grave of Rachel exactly agrees with the
Scriptural record, being about a mile from Beth-lehem. Anciently it was
surmounted by a pyramid of stones, but the present tomb is a Mohammedan
erection.
26. Sons of Jacob ... born to him in Padan-aram--It is a common
practice of the sacred historian to say of a company or body of men
that which, though true of the majority, may not be applicable to every
individual. (See Mt 19:28; Joh 20:24; Heb 11:13). Here is an example,
for Benjamin was born in Canaan [Ge 35:16-18].
Ge 35:28, 29. Death of Isaac.
29. Isaac gave up the ghost--The death of this venerable patriarch is
here recorded by anticipation for it did not take place till fifteen
years after Joseph's disappearance. Feeble and blind though he was, he
lived to a very advanced age; and it is a pleasing evidence of the
permanent reconciliation between Esau and Jacob that they met at Mamre
to perform the funeral rites of their common father.
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CHAPTER 36
Ge 36:1-43. Posterity of Esau.
1. these are the generations--history of the leading men and events
(compare Ge 2:4).
Esau who is Edom--A name applied to him in reference to the peculiar
color of his skin at birth [Ge 25:25], rendered more significant by his
inordinate craving for the red pottage [Ge 25:30], and also by the
fierce sanguinary character of his descendants (compare Eze 25:12; Ob
10).
2, 3. Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan--There were three,
mentioned under different names; for it is evident that Bashemath is
the same as Mahalath (Ge 28:9), since they both stand in the relation
of daughter to Ishmael and sister to Nebajoth; and hence it may be
inferred that Adah is the same as Judith, Aholibamah as Bathsemath (Ge
26:34). It was not unusual for women, in that early age, to have two
names, as Sarai was also Iscah [Ge 11:29]; and this is the more
probable in the case of Esau's wives, who of course would have to take
new names when they went from Canaan to settle in mount Seir.
6, 7. Esau ... went into the country from the face of his brother
Jacob--literally, "a country," without any certain prospect of a
settlement. The design of this historical sketch of Esau and his family
is to show how the promise (Ge 27:39, 40) was fulfilled. In temporal
prosperity he far exceeds his brother; and it is remarkable that, in
the overruling providence of God, the vast increase of his worldly
substance was the occasion of his leaving Canaan and thus making way
for the return of Jacob.
8. Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir--This was divinely assigned as his
possession (Jos 24:4; De 2:5).
15-19. dukes--The Edomites, like the Israelites, were divided into
tribes, which took their names from his sons. The head of each tribe
was called by a term which in our version is rendered "duke"--not of
the high rank and wealth of a British peer, but like the sheiks or
emirs of the modern East, or the chieftains of highland clans. Fourteen
are mentioned who flourished contemporaneously.
20-30. Sons of Seir, the Horite--native dukes, who were incorporated
with those of the Edomite race.
24. This was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness--The word
"mules" is, in several ancient versions, rendered "water springs"; and
this discovery of some remarkable fountain was sufficient, among a
wandering or pastoral people, to entitle him to such a distinguishing
notice.
31-39. kings of Edom--The royal power was not built on the ruins of the
dukedoms, but existed at the same time.
40-43. Recapitulation of the dukes according to their residences.
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CHAPTER 37
Ge 37:1-4. Parental Partiality.
1. Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger--that is,
"a sojourner"; "father" used collectively. The patriarch was at this
time at Mamre, in the valley of Hebron (compare Ge 35:27); and his
dwelling there was continued in the same manner and prompted by the
same motives as that of Abraham and Isaac (Heb 11:13).
2. generations--leading occurrences, in the domestic history of Jacob,
as shown in the narrative about to be commenced.
Joseph ... was feeding the flock--literally, "Joseph being seventeen
years old was a shepherd over the flock"--he a lad, with the sons of
Bilhah and Zilpah. Oversight or superintendence is evidently implied.
This post of chief shepherd in the party might be assigned him either
from his being the son of a principal wife or from his own superior
qualities of character; and if invested with this office, he acted not
as a gossiping telltale, but as a "faithful steward" in reporting the
scandalous conduct of his brethren.
3. son of his old age--Benjamin being younger, was more the son of his
old age and consequently on that ground might have been expected to be
the favorite. Literally rendered, it is "son of old age to him"--Hebrew
phrase, for "a wise son"--one who possessed observation and wisdom
above his years--an old head on young shoulders.
made him a coat of many colors--formed in those early days by sewing
together patches of colored cloth, and considered a dress of
distinction (Jud 5:30; 2Sa 13:18). The passion for various colors still
reigns among the Arabs and other people of the East, who are fond of
dressing their children in this gaudy attire. But since the art of
interweaving various patterns was introduced, "the coats of colors" are
different now from what they seem to have been in patriarchal times,
and bear a close resemblance to the varieties of tartan.
4. could not speak peaceably unto him--did not say "peace be to thee"
[Ge 43:23, &c.], the usual expression of good wishes among friends and
acquaintances. It is deemed a sacred duty to give all this form of
salutation; and the withholding of it is an unmistakable sign of
dislike or secret hostility. The habitual refusal of Joseph's brethren,
therefore, to meet him with "the salaam," showed how ill-disposed they
were towards him. It is very natural in parents to love the youngest,
and feel partial to those who excel in talents or amiableness. But in a
family constituted as Jacob's--many children by different mothers--he
showed great and criminal indiscretion.
Ge 37:5-36. The Dreams of Joseph.
5. Joseph dreamed a dream--Dreams in ancient times were much attended
to, and hence the dream of Joseph, though but a mere boy, engaged the
serious consideration of his family. But this dream was evidently
symbolical. The meaning was easily discerned, and, from its being
repeated under different emblems, the fulfilment was considered certain
(compare Ge 41:32), whence it was that "his brethren envied him, but
his father observed the saying" [Ge 37:11].
12. his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem--The vale
of Shechem was, from the earliest mention of Canaan, blest with
extraordinary abundance of water. Therefore did the sons of Jacob go
from Hebron to this place, though it must have cost them near twenty
hours' travelling--that is, at the shepherd rate, a little more than
fifty miles. But the herbage there was so rich and nutritious that they
thought it well worth the pains of so long a journey, to the neglect of
the grazing district of Hebron [Van De Velde].
13-17. Israel said, ... Do not thy brethren feed the flock in
Shechem?--Anxious to learn how his sons were doing in their distant
encampment, Jacob despatched Joseph; and the youth, accepting the
mission with alacrity, left the vale of Hebron, sought them at Shechem,
heard of them from a man in "the field" (the wide and richly cultivated
plain of Esdraelon), and found that they had left that neighborhood for
Dothan, probably being compelled by the detestation in which, from the
horrid massacre, their name was held.
17. Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan--Hebrew,
Dothaim, or "two wells," recently discovered in the modern "Dothan,"
situated a few hours' distance from Shechem.
18. when they saw him afar off--on the level grass field, where they
were watching their cattle. They could perceive him approaching in the
distance from the side of Shechem, or rather, Samaria.
19. Behold, this dreamer cometh--literally, "master of dreams"--a
bitterly ironical sneer. Dreams being considered suggestions from
above, to make false pretensions to having received one was detested as
a species of blasphemy, and in this light Joseph was regarded by his
brethren as an artful pretender. They already began to form a plot for
Joseph's assassination, from which he was rescued only by the address
of Reuben, who suggested that he should rather be cast into one of the
wells, which are, and probably were, completely dried up in summer.
23. they stripped Joseph out of his coat ... of many colors--Imagine
him advancing in all the unsuspecting openness of brotherly affection.
How astonished and terrified must he have been at the cold reception,
the ferocious aspect, the rough usage of his unnatural assailants! A
vivid picture of his state of agony and despair was afterwards drawn by
themselves (compare Ge 42:21).
25. they sat down to eat bread--What a view does this exhibit of those
hardened profligates! Their common share in this conspiracy is not the
only dismal feature in the story. The rapidity, the almost
instantaneous manner in which the proposal was followed by their joint
resolution, and the cool indifference, or rather the fiendish
satisfaction, with which they sat down to regale themselves, is
astonishing. It is impossible that mere envy at his dreams, his gaudy
dress, or the doting partiality of their common father, could have
goaded them on to such a pitch of frenzied resentment or confirmed them
in such consummate wickedness. Their hatred to Joseph must have had a
far deeper seat. It must have been produced by dislike to his piety and
other excellencies, which made his character and conduct a constant
censure upon theirs, and on account of which they found that they could
never be at ease till they had rid themselves of his hated presence.
This was the true solution of the mystery, just as it was in the case
of Cain (1Jo 3:12).
they lifted up their eyes, ... and, behold, a company of
Ishmaelites--They are called Midianites (Ge 37:28), and Medanites, in
Hebrew (Ge 37:36), being a travelling caravan composed of a mixed
association of Arabians. Those tribes of Northern Arabia had already
addicted themselves to commerce, and long did they enjoy a monopoly,
the carrying trade being entirely in their hands. Their approach could
easily be seen; for, as their road, after crossing the ford from the
trans-jordanic district, led along the south side of the mountains of
Gilboa, a party seated on the plain of Dothan could trace them and
their string of camels in the distance as they proceeded through the
broad and gently sloping valley that intervenes. Trading in the produce
of Arabia and India, they were in the regular course of traffic on
their way to Egypt: and the chief articles of commerce in which this
clan dealt were
spicery from India, that is, a species of resinous gum, called storax,
balm--"balm of Gilead," the juice of the balsam tree, a native of
Arabia-Felix, and myrrh--an Arabic gum of a strong, fragrant smell. For
these articles there must have been an enormous demand in Egypt as they
were constantly used in the process of embalming.
26-28. Judah said, ... What profit is it if we slay our brother?--The
sight of these travelling merchants gave a sudden turn to the views of
the conspirators; for having no wish to commit a greater degree of
crime than was necessary for the accomplishment of their end, they
readily approved of Judah's suggestion to dispose of their obnoxious
brother as a slave. The proposal, of course, was founded on their
knowledge that the Arabian merchants trafficked in slaves; and there is
the clearest evidence furnished by the monuments of Egypt that the
traders who were in the habit of bringing slaves from the countries
through which they passed, found a ready market in the cities of the
Nile.
they ... lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold him--Acting
impulsively on Judah's advice, they had their poor victim ready by the
time the merchants reached them; and money being no part of their
object, they sold him for
twenty pieces of silver--The money was probably in rings or pieces
(shekels), and silver is always mentioned in the records of that early
age before gold, on account of its rarity. The whole sum, if in shekel
weight, did not exceed £3.
they brought Joseph into Egypt--There were two routes to Egypt: the one
was overland by Hebron, where Jacob dwelt, and by taking which, the
fate of his hapless son would likely have reached the paternal ears;
the other was directly westward across the country from Dothan to the
maritime coast, and in this, the safest and most expeditious way, the
merchants carried Joseph to Egypt. Thus did an overruling Providence
lead this murderous conclave of brothers, as well as the slave
merchants both following their own free courses--to be parties in an
act by which He was to work out, in a marvellous manner, the great
purposes of His wisdom and goodness towards His ancient Church and
people.
29, 30. Reuben returned unto the pit--He seems to have designedly taken
a circuitous route, with a view of secretly rescuing the poor lad from
a lingering death by starvation. His intentions were excellent, and his
feelings no doubt painfully lacerated when he discovered what had been
done in his absence. But the thing was of God, who had designed that
Joseph's deliverance should be accomplished by other means than his.
31-33. they took Joseph's coat--The commission of one sin necessarily
leads to another to conceal it; and the scheme of deception which the
sons of Jacob planned and practised on their aged father was a
necessary consequence of the atrocious crime they had perpetrated. What
a wonder that their cruel sneer, "thy son's coat," and their forced
efforts to comfort him, did not awaken suspicion! But extreme grief,
like every other passion, is blind, and Jacob, great as his affliction
was, did allow himself to indulge his sorrow more than became one who
believed in the government of a supreme and all-wise Disposer.
34. Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins--the
common signs of Oriental mourning. A rent is made in the skirt more or
less long according to the afflicted feelings of the mourner, and a
coarse rough piece of black sackcloth or camel's hair cloth is wound
round the waist.
35. and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son--not the
earth, for Joseph was supposed to be torn in pieces, but the unknown
place--the place of departed souls, where Jacob expected at death to
meet his beloved son.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 38
Ge 38:1-30. Judah and Family.
1. at that time--a formula frequently used by the sacred writers, not
to describe any precise period, but an interval near about it.
2. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite--Like Esau [Ge
26:34], this son of Jacob, casting off the restraints of religion,
married into a Canaanite family; and it is not surprising that the
family which sprang from such an unsuitable connection should be
infamous for bold and unblushing wickedness.
8. Judah said unto Onan ... marry her, and raise up seed to thy
brother--The first instance of a custom, which was afterwards
incorporated among the laws of Moses, that when a husband died leaving
a widow, his brother next of age was to marry her, and the issue, if
any, was to be served heir to the deceased (compare De 25:5).
12. Judah ... went up unto his sheep-shearers--This season, which
occurs in Palestine towards the end of March, was spent in more than
usual hilarity, and the wealthiest masters invited their friends, as
well as treated their servants, to sumptuous entertainments.
Accordingly, it is said, Judah was accompanied by his friend Hirah.
Timnath--in the mountains of Judah.
18. signet, &c.--Bracelets, including armlets, were worn by men as well
as women among the Hebrews. But the Hebrew word here rendered
"bracelets," is everywhere else translated "lace" or "ribbon"; so that
as the signet alone was probably more than an equivalent for the kid,
it is not easy to conjecture why the other things were given in
addition, except by supposing the perforated seal was attached by a
ribbon to the staff.
24. Bring her forth, and let her be burnt--In patriarchal times fathers
seem to have possessed the power of life and death over the members of
their families. The crime of adultery was anciently punished in many
places by burning (Le 21:9; Jud 15:6; Jer 29:22). This chapter contains
details, which probably would never have obtained a place in the
inspired record, had it not been to exhibit the full links of the chain
that connects the genealogy of the Saviour with Abraham; and in the
disreputable character of the ancestry who figure in this passage, we
have a remarkable proof that "He made himself of no reputation" [Php
2:7].
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 39
Ge 39:1-23. Joseph in Potiphar's House.
1. Potiphar--This name, Potiphar, signifies one "devoted to the sun,"
the local deity of On or Heliopolis, a circumstance which fixes the
place of his residence in the Delta, the district of Egypt bordering on
Canaan.
officer--literally, "prince of the Pharoah"--that is, in the service of
government.
captain of the guard--The import of the original term has been
variously interpreted, some considering it means "chief cook," others,
"chief inspector of plantations"; but that which seems best founded is
"chief of the executioners," the same as the captain of the watch, the
zabut of modern Egypt [Wilkinson].
bought him ... of the Ishmaelites--The age, appearance, and
intelligence of the Hebrew slave would soon cause him to be picked up
in the market. But the unseen, unfelt influence of the great Disposer
drew the attention of Potiphar towards him, in order that in the house
of one so closely connected with the court, he might receive that
previous training which was necessary for the high office he was
destined to fill, and in the school of adversity learn the lessons of
practical wisdom that were to be of greatest utility and importance in
his future career. Thus it is that when God has any important work to
be done, He always prepares fitting agents to accomplish it.
2. he was in the house of his master--Those slaves who had been war
captives were generally sent to labor in the field and subjected to
hard treatment under the "stick" of taskmasters. But those who were
bought with money were employed in domestic purposes, were kindly
treated, and enjoyed as much liberty as the same class does in modern
Egypt.
3. his master saw that the Lord was with him--Though changed in
condition, Joseph was not changed in spirit; though stripped of the
gaudy coat that had adorned his person, he had not lost the moral
graces that distinguished his character; though separated from his
father on earth, he still lived in communion with his Father in heaven;
though in the house of an idolater, he continued a worshipper of the
true God.
5. the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake, &c.--It
might be--it probably was--that a special, a miraculous blessing was
poured out on a youth who so faithfully and zealously served God amid
all the disadvantages of his place. But it may be useful to remark that
such a blessing usually follows in the ordinary course of things; and
the most worldly, unprincipled masters always admire and respect
religion in a servant when they see that profession supported by
conscientious principle and a consistent life.
made him overseer in his house--We do not know in what capacity Joseph
entered into the service of Potiphar; but the observant eye of his
master soon discovered his superior qualities and made him his chief,
his confidential servant (compare Eph 6:7; Col 3:23). The advancement
of domestic slaves is not uncommon, and it is considered a great
disgrace not to raise one who has been a year or two in the family. But
this extraordinary advancement of Joseph was the doing of the Lord,
though on the part of Potiphar it was the consequence of observing the
astonishing prosperity that attended him in all that he did.
7. his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph--Egyptian women were not
kept in the same secluded manner as females are in most Oriental
countries now. They were treated in a manner more worthy of a civilized
people--in fact, enjoyed much freedom both at home and abroad. Hence
Potiphar's wife had constant opportunity of meeting Joseph. But the
ancient women of Egypt were very loose in their morals. Intrigues and
intemperance were vices very prevalent among them, as the monuments too
plainly attest [Wilkinson]. Potiphar's wife was probably not worse than
many of the same rank, and her infamous advances made to Joseph arose
from her superiority of station.
9. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?--This
remonstrance, when all inferior arguments had failed, embodied the true
principle of moral purity--a principle always sufficient where it
exists, and alone sufficient.
14. Then she called unto the men of her house--Disappointed and
affronted, she vowed revenge and accused Joseph, first to the servants
of the house, and on his return to her lord.
See, he hath brought in an Hebrew ... to mock us--an affected and blind
aspersion of her husband for keeping in his house an Hebrew, the very
abomination of Egyptians.
20. Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison--the
roundhouse, from the form of its construction, usually attached to the
dwelling of such an officer as Potiphar. It was partly a subterranean
dungeon (Ge 41:14), though the brick-built walls rose considerably
above the surface of the ground, and were surmounted by a vaulted roof
somewhat in the form of an inverted bowl. Into such a dungeon Potiphar,
in the first ebullition of rage, threw Joseph and ordered him to be
subjected further to as great harshness of treatment (Ps 105:18) as he
dared; for the power of masters over their slaves was very properly
restrained by law, and the murder of a slave was a capital crime.
a place where the king's prisoners were bound--Though prisons seem to
have been an inseparable appendage of the palaces, this was not a
common jail--it was the receptacle of state criminals; and, therefore,
it may be presumed that more than ordinary strictness and vigilance
were exercised over the prisoners. In general, however, the Egyptian,
like other Oriental prisons, were used solely for the purposes of
detention. Accused persons were cast into them until the charges
against them could be investigated; and though the jailer was
responsible for the appearance of those placed under his custody, yet,
provided they were produced when called, he was never interrogated as
to the way in which he had kept them.
21-23. The Lord ... gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the
prison, &c.--It is highly probable, from the situation of this prison
(Ge 40:3), that the keeper might have been previously acquainted with
Joseph and have had access to know his innocence of the crime laid to
his charge, as well as with all the high integrity of his character.
That may partly account for his showing so much kindness and confidence
to his prisoner. But there was a higher influence at work; for "the
Lord was with Joseph, and that which he did, the Lord made it to
prosper."
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CHAPTER 40
Ge 40:1-8. Two State Prisoners.
1. the butler--not only the cup-bearer, but overseer of the royal
vineyards, as well as the cellars; having, probably, some hundreds of
people under him.
baker--or cook, had the superintendence of every thing relating to the
providing and preparing of meats for the royal table. Both officers,
especially the former, were, in ancient Egypt, always persons of great
rank and importance; and from the confidential nature of their
employment, as well as their access to the royal presence, they were
generally the highest nobles or princes of the blood.
3. Pharaoh put them in ward, &c.--Whatever was their crime, they were
committed, until their case could be investigated, to the custody of
the captain of the guard, that is, Potiphar, in an outer part of whose
house the royal prison was situated.
4. The captain of the guard charged Joseph with them--not the keeper,
though he was most favorably disposed; but Potiphar himself, who, it
would seem, was by this time satisfied of the perfect innocence of the
young Hebrew; though, probably, to prevent the exposure of his family,
he deemed it prudent to detain him in confinement (see Ps 37:5).
They continued a season in ward--literally, "days," how long, is
uncertain; but as they were called to account on the king's birthday,
it has been supposed that their offense had been committed on the
preceding anniversary [Calvin].
5-8. they dreamed a dream--Joseph, influenced by the spirit of true
religion, could feel for others (Ec 4:1; Ro 12:15; Php 2:4). Observing
them one day extremely depressed, he inquired the cause of their
melancholy; and being informed it was owing to a dream they had
respectively dreamed during the previous night, after piously directing
them to God (Da 2:30; Isa 26:10), he volunteered to aid them, through
the divine help, in discovering the import of their vision. The
influence of Providence must be seen in the remarkable fact of both
officers dreaming such dreams in one night. He moves the spirits of
men.
Ge 40:9-15. The Butler's Dream.
9-11. In my dream, behold, a vine was before me--The visionary scene
described seems to represent the king as taking exercise and attended
by his butler, who gave him a cooling draught. On all occasions, the
kings of ancient Egypt were required to practice temperance in the use
of wine [Wilkinson]; but in this scene, it is a prepared beverage he is
drinking, probably the sherbet of the present day. Everything was done
in the king's presence--the cup was washed, the juice of the grapes
pressed into it; and it was then handed to him--not grasped; but
lightly resting on the tips of the fingers.
12-15. Joseph said, ... This is the interpretation--Speaking as an
inspired interpreter, he told the butler that within three days he
would be restored to all the honors and privileges of his office; and
while making that joyful announcement, he earnestly bespoke the
officer's influence for his own liberation. Nothing has hitherto met us
in the record indicative of Joseph's feelings; but this earnest appeal
reveals a sadness and impatient longing for release, which not all his
piety and faith in God could dispel.
Ge 40:16-23. The Baker's Dream.
16. I had three white baskets--The circumstances mentioned exactly
describe his duties, which, notwithstanding numerous assistants, he
performed with his own hands.
white--literally, "full of holes"; that is, wicker baskets. The meats
were carried to table upon the head in three baskets, one piled upon
the other; and in the uppermost, the bakemeats. And in crossing the
open courts, from the kitchen to the dining rooms, the removal of the
viands by a vulture, eagle, ibis, or other rapacious bird, was a
frequent occurrence in the palaces of Egypt, as it is an everyday
incident in the hot countries of the East still. The risk from these
carnivorous birds was the greater in the cities of Egypt, where being
held sacred, it was unlawful to destroy them; and they swarmed in such
numbers as to be a great annoyance to the people.
18, 19. Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation--The
purport was that in three days his execution should be ordered. The
language of Joseph describes minutely one form of capital punishment
that prevailed in Egypt; namely, that the criminal was decapitated and
then his headless body gibbeted on a tree by the highway till it was
gradually devoured by the ravenous birds.
20-22. it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's
birthday--This was a holiday season, celebrated at court with great
magnificence and honored by a free pardon to prisoners. Accordingly,
the issue happened to the butler and baker, as Joseph had foretold.
Doubtless, he felt it painful to communicate such dismal tidings to the
baker; but he could not help announcing what God had revealed to him;
and it was for the honor of the true God that he should speak plainly.
23. yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph--This was human
nature. How prone are men to forget and neglect in prosperity, those
who have been their companions in adversity (Am 6:6)! But although
reflecting no credit on the butler, it was wisely ordered in the
providence of God that he should forget him. The divine purposes
required that Joseph should obtain his deliverance in another way, and
by other means.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 41
Ge 41:1-24. Pharaoh's Dream.
1. at the end of two full years--It is not certain whether these years
are reckoned from the beginning of Joseph's imprisonment, or from the
events described in the preceding chapter--most likely the latter. What
a long time for Joseph to experience the sickness of hope deferred! But
the time of his enlargement came when he had sufficiently learned the
lessons of God designed for him; and the plans of Providence were
matured.
Pharaoh dreamed--"Pharaoh," from an Egyptian word Phre, signifying the
"sun," was the official title of the kings of that country. The prince,
who occupied the throne of Egypt, was Aphophis, one of the Memphite
kings, whose capital was On or Heliopolis, and who is universally
acknowledged to have been a patriot king. Between the arrival of
Abraham and the appearance of Joseph in that country, somewhat more
than two centuries had elapsed. Kings sleep and dream, as well as their
subjects. And this Pharaoh had two dreams in one night so singular and
so similar, so distinct and so apparently significant, so coherent and
vividly impressed on his memory, that his spirit was troubled.
8. he called for all the magicians of Egypt--It is not possible to
define the exact distinction between "magicians" and "wise men"; but
they formed different branches of a numerous body, who laid claim to
supernatural skill in occult arts and sciences, in revealing mysteries,
explaining portents, and, above all, interpreting dreams. Long practice
had rendered them expert in devising a plausible way of getting out of
every difficulty and framing an answer suitable to the occasion. But
the dreams of Pharaoh baffled their united skill. Unlike their Assyrian
brethren (Da 2:4), they did not pretend to know the meaning of the
symbols contained in them, and the providence of God had determined
that they should all be nonplussed in the exercise of their boasted
powers, in order that the inspired wisdom of Joseph might appear the
more remarkable.
9-13. then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember
my faults--This public acknowledgment of the merits of the young Hebrew
would, tardy though it was, have reflected credit on the butler had it
not been obviously made to ingratiate himself with his royal master. It
is right to confess our faults against God, and against our fellow men
when that confession is made in the spirit of godly sorrow and
penitence. But this man was not much impressed with a sense of the
fault he had committed against Joseph; he never thought of God, to
whose goodness he was indebted for the prophetic announcement of his
release, and in acknowledging his former fault against the king, he was
practising the courtly art of pleasing his master.
14. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph--Now that God's set time had
come (Ps 105:19), no human power nor policy could detain Joseph in
prison. During his protracted confinement, he might have often been
distressed with perplexing doubts; but the mystery of Providence was
about to be cleared up, and all his sorrows forgotten in the course of
honor and public usefulness in which his services were to be employed.
shaved himself--The Egyptians were the only Oriental nation that liked
a smooth chin. All slaves and foreigners who were reduced to that
condition, were obliged, on their arrival in that country, to conform
to the cleanly habits of the natives, by shaving their beards and
heads, the latter of which were covered with a close cap. Thus
prepared, Joseph was conducted to the palace, where the king seemed to
have been anxiously waiting his arrival.
15, 16. Pharaoh said, ... I have dreamed a dream--The king's brief
statement of the service required brought out the genuine piety of
Joseph; disclaiming all merit, he ascribed whatever gifts or sagacity
he possessed to the divine source of all wisdom, and he declared his
own inability to penetrate futurity; but, at the same time, he
expressed his confident persuasion that God would reveal what was
necessary to be known.
17. Pharaoh said, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the
river--The dreams were purely Egyptian, founded on the productions of
that country and the experience of a native. The fertility of Egypt
being wholly dependent on the Nile, the scene is laid on the banks of
that river; and oxen being in the ancient hieroglyphics symbolical of
the earth and of food, animals of that species were introduced in the
first dream.
18. there came up out of the river seven kine--Cows now, of the buffalo
kind, are seen daily plunging into the Nile; when their huge form is
gradually emerging, they seem as if rising "out of the river."
and they fed in a meadow--Nile grass, the aquatic plants that grow on
the marshy banks of that river, particularly the lotus kind, on which
cattle were usually fattened.
19. behold, seven other kine ... poor and ill-favoured--The cow being
the emblem of fruitfulness, the different years of plenty and of famine
were aptly represented by the different condition of those kine--the
plenty, by the cattle feeding on the richest fodder; and the dearth, by
the lean and famishing kine, which the pangs of hunger drove to act
contrary to their nature.
22. I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears--that is, of Egyptian
wheat, which, when "full and good," is remarkable in size (a single
seed sprouting into seven, ten, or fourteen stalks) and each stalk
bearing an ear.
23. blasted with the east wind--destructive everywhere to grain, but
particularly so in Egypt; where, sweeping over the sandy deserts of
Arabia, it comes in the character of a hot, blighting wind, that
quickly withers all vegetation (compare Eze 19:12; Ho 13:15).
24. the thin ears devoured the seven good ears--devoured is a different
word from that used in Ge 41:4 and conveys the idea of destroying, by
absorbing to themselves all the nutritious virtue of the soil around
them.
Ge 41:25-36. Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dreams.
25. Joseph said, ... The dream ... is one--They both pointed to the
same event--a remarkable dispensation of seven years of unexampled
abundance, to be followed by a similar period of unparalleled dearth.
The repetition of the dream in two different forms was designed to show
the absolute certainty and speedy arrival of this public crisis; the
interpretation was accompanied by several suggestions of practical
wisdom for meeting so great an emergency as was impending.
33. Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man--The explanation given,
when the key to the dreams was supplied, appears to have been
satisfactory to the king and his courtiers; and we may suppose that
much and anxious conversation arose, in the course of which Joseph
might have been asked whether he had anything further to say. No doubt
the providence of God provided the opportunity of his suggesting what
was necessary.
34. and let him appoint officers over the land--overseers, equivalent
to the beys of modern Egypt.
take up the fifth part of the land--that is, of the land's produce, to
be purchased and stored by the government, instead of being sold to
foreign corn merchants.
Ge 41:37-57. Joseph Made Ruler of Egypt.
38. Pharaoh said unto his servants--The kings of ancient Egypt were
assisted in the management of state affairs by the advice of the most
distinguished members of the priestly order; and, accordingly, before
admitting Joseph to the new and extraordinary office that was to be
created, those ministers were consulted as to the expediency and
propriety of the appointment.
a man in whom the Spirit of God is--An acknowledgment of the being and
power of the true God, though faint and feeble, continued to linger
amongst the higher classes long after idolatry had come to prevail.
40. Thou shalt be over my house--This sudden change in the condition of
a man who had just been taken out of prison could take place nowhere,
except in Egypt. In ancient as well as modern times, slaves have often
risen to be its rulers. But the special providence of God had
determined to make Joseph governor of Egypt; and the way was paved for
it by the deep and universal conviction produced in the minds both of
the king and his councillors, that a divine spirit animated his mind
and had given him such extraordinary knowledge.
according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled--literally,
"kiss." This refers to the edict granting official power to Joseph, to
be issued in the form of a firman, as in all Oriental countries; and
all who should receive that order would kiss it, according to the usual
Eastern mode of acknowledging obedience and respect for the sovereign
[Wilkinson].
41. Pharaoh said, ... See, I have set thee over all the land--These
words were preliminary to investiture with the insignia of office,
which were these: the signet-ring, used for signing public documents,
and its impression was more valid than the sign-manual of the king; the
khelaat or dress of honor, a coat of finely wrought linen, or rather
cotton, worn only by the highest personages; the gold necklace, a badge
of rank, the plain or ornamental form of it indicating the degree of
rank and dignity; the privilege of riding in a state carriage, the
second chariot; and lastly--
43. they cried before him, Bow the knee--abrech, an Egyptian term, not
referring to prostration, but signifying, according to some, "father"
(compare Ge 45:8); according to others, "native prince"--that is,
proclaimed him naturalized, in order to remove all popular dislike to
him as a foreigner.
44. These ceremonies of investiture were closed in usual form by the
king in council solemnly ratifying the appointment.
I am Pharaoh, and without thee, &c.--a proverbial mode of expression
for great power.
45. Zaphnath-paaneah--variously interpreted, "revealer of secrets";
"saviour of the land"; and from the hieroglyphics, "a wise man fleeing
from pollution"--that is, adultery.
gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter of--His naturalization was
completed by this alliance with a family of high distinction. On being
founded by an Arab colony, Poti-pherah, like Jethro, priest of Midian,
might be a worshipper of the true God; and thus Joseph, a pious man,
will be freed from the charge of marrying an idolatress for worldly
ends.
On--called Aven (Eze 30:17) and also Beth-shemesh (Jer 43:13). In
looking at this profusion of honors heaped suddenly upon Joseph, it
cannot be doubted that he would humbly yet thankfully acknowledge the
hand of a special Providence in conducting him through all his
checkered course to almost royal power; and we, who know more than
Joseph did, cannot only see that his advancement was subservient to the
most important purposes relative to the Church of God, but learn the
great lesson that a Providence directs the minutest events of human
life.
46. Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh--seventeen
when brought into Egypt, probably three in prison, and thirteen in the
service of Potiphar.
went out ... all the land--made an immediate survey to determine the
site and size of the storehouses required for the different quarters of
the country.
47. the earth brought forth by handfuls--a singular expression,
alluding not only to the luxuriance of the crop, but the practice of
the reapers grasping the ears, which alone were cut.
48. he gathered up all the food of the seven years--It gives a striking
idea of the exuberant fertility of this land, that, from the
superabundance of the seven plenteous years, corn enough was laid up
for the subsistence, not only of its home population, but of the
neighboring countries, during the seven years of dearth.
50-52. unto Joseph were born two sons--These domestic events, which
increased his temporal happiness, develop the piety of his character in
the names conferred upon his children.
53-56. The seven years of plenteousness ... ended--Over and above the
proportion purchased for the government during the years of plenty, the
people could still have husbanded much for future use. But improvident
as men commonly are in the time of prosperity, they found themselves in
want, and would have starved by thousands had not Joseph anticipated
and provided for the protracted calamity.
57. The famine was sore in all lands--that is, the lands contiguous to
Egypt--Canaan, Syria, and Arabia.
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CHAPTER 42
Ge 42:1-38. Journey into Egypt.
1. Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt--learned from common
rumor. It is evident from Jacob's language that his own and his sons'
families had suffered greatly from the scarcity; and through the
increasing severity of the scourge, those men, who had formerly shown
both activity and spirit, were sinking into despondency. God would not
interpose miraculously when natural means of preservation were within
reach.
5. the famine was in the land of Canaan--The tropical rains, which
annually falling swell the Nile, are those of Palestine also; and their
failure would produce the same disastrous effects in Canaan as in
Egypt. Numerous caravans of its people, therefore, poured over the
sandy desert of Suez, with their beasts of burden, for the purchase of
corn; and among others, "the sons of Israel" were compelled to
undertake a journey from which painful associations made them strongly
averse.
6. Joseph was the governor--in the zenith of his power and influence.
he it was that sold--that is, directed the sales; for it is impossible
that he could give attendance in every place. It is probable, however,
that he may have personally superintended the storehouses near the
border of Canaan, both because that was the most exposed part of the
country and because he must have anticipated the arrival of some
messengers from his father's house.
Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him--His
prophetic dreams [Ge 37:5-11] were in the course of being fulfilled,
and the atrocious barbarity of his brethren had been the means of
bringing about the very issue they had planned to prevent (Isa 60:14;
Re 3:9, last clause).
7, 8. Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, ... but they knew not
him--This is not strange. They were full-grown men--he was but a lad at
parting. They were in their usual garb--he was in his official robes.
They never dreamt of him as governor of Egypt, while he had been
expecting them. They had but one face; he had ten persons to judge by.
made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly--It would be an
injustice to Joseph's character to suppose that this stern manner was
prompted by any vindictive feelings--he never indulged any resentment
against others who had injured him. But he spoke in the authoritative
tone of the governor in order to elicit some much-longed-for
information respecting the state of his father's family, as well as to
bring his brethren, by their own humiliation and distress, to a sense
of the evils they had done to him.
9-14. Ye are spies--This is a suspicion entertained regarding strangers
in all Eastern countries down to the present day. Joseph, however, who
was well aware that his brethren were not spies, has been charged with
cruel dissimulation, with a deliberate violation of what he knew to be
the truth, in imputing to them such a character. But it must be
remembered that he was sustaining the part of a ruler; and, in fact,
acting on the very principle sanctioned by many of the sacred writers,
and our Lord Himself, who spoke parables (fictitious stories) to
promote a good end.
15. By the life of Pharaoh--It is a very common practice in Western
Asia to swear by the life of the king. Joseph spoke in the style of an
Egyptian and perhaps did not think there was any evil in it. But we are
taught to regard all such expressions in the light of an oath (Mt 5:34;
Jas 5:12).
17-24. put them ... into ward three days--Their confinement had been
designed to bring them to salutary reflection. And this object was
attained, for they looked upon the retributive justice of God as now
pursuing them in that foreign land. The drift of their conversation is
one of the most striking instances on record of the power of conscience
[Ge 42:21, 22].
24. took ... Simeon, and bound him--He had probably been the chief
instigator--the most violent actor in the outrage upon Joseph; and if
so, his selection to be the imprisoned and fettered hostage for their
return would, in the present course of their reflections, have a
painful significance.
25-28. Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore
every man's money--This private generosity was not an infringement of
his duty--a defrauding of the revenue. He would have a discretionary
power--he was daily enriching the king's exchequer--and he might have
paid the sum from his own purse.
27. inn--a mere station for baiting beasts of burden.
he espied his money--The discovery threw them into greater perplexity
than ever. If they had been congratulating themselves on escaping from
the ruthless governor, they perceived that now he would have a handle
against them; and it is observable that they looked upon this as a
judgment of heaven. Thus one leading design of Joseph was gained in
their consciences being roused to a sense of guilt.
35. as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's ... money
was in his sack--It appears that they had been silent about the money
discovery at the resting-place, as their father might have blamed them
for not instantly returning. However innocent they knew themselves to
be, it was universally felt to be an unhappy circumstance, which might
bring them into new and greater perils.
36. Me have ye bereaved--This exclamation indicates a painfully excited
state of feeling, and it shows how difficult it is for even a good man
to yield implicit submission to the course of Providence. The language
does not imply that his missing sons had got foul play from the hands
of the rest, but he looks upon Simeon as lost, as well as Joseph, and
he insinuates it was by some imprudent statements of theirs that he was
exposed to the risk of losing Benjamin also.
37. Reuben spake, ... Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to
thee--This was a thoughtless and unwarrantable condition--one that he
never seriously expected his father would accept. It was designed only
to give assurance of the greatest care being taken of Benjamin. But
unforeseen circumstances might arise to render it impossible for all of
them to preserve that young lad (Jas 4:13), and Jacob was much pained
by the prospect. Little did he know that God was dealing with him
severely, but in kindness (Heb 12:7, 8), and that all those things he
thought against Him were working together for his good.
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CHAPTER 43
Ge 43:1-14. Preparations for a Second Journey to Egypt.
2. their father said, ... Go again, buy us a little food--It was no
easy matter to bring Jacob to agree to the only conditions on which his
sons could return to Egypt (Ge 42:15). The necessity of immediately
procuring fresh supplies for the maintenance of themselves and their
families overcame every other consideration and extorted his consent to
Benjamin joining in a journey, which his sons entered on with mingled
feelings of hope and anxiety--of hope, because having now complied with
the governor's demand to bring down their youngest brother, they
flattered themselves that the alleged ground of suspecting them would
be removed; and of apprehension that some ill designs were meditated
against them.
11. take of the best fruits ... a present--It is an Oriental practice
never to approach a man of power without a present, and Jacob might
remember how he pacified his brother (Pr 21:14)--balm, spices, and
myrrh (see on Ge 37:25),
honey--which some think was dibs, a syrup made from ripe dates
[Bochart]; but others, the honey of Hebron, which is still valued as
far superior to that of Egypt;
nuts--pistachio nuts, of which Syria grows the best in the world;
almonds--which were most abundant in Palestine.
12. take double money--the first sum to be returned, and another sum
for a new supply. The restored money in the sacks' mouth was a
perplexing circumstance. But it might have been done inadvertently by
one of the servants--so Jacob persuaded himself--and happy it was for
his own peace and the encouragement of the travellers that he took this
view. Besides the duty of restoring it, honesty in their case was
clearly the best, the safest policy.
14. God Almighty give you mercy before the man--Jacob is here
committing them all to the care of God and, resigned to what appears a
heavy trial, prays that it may be overruled for good.
Ge 43:15-30. Arrival in Egypt.
15. stood before Joseph--We may easily imagine the delight with which,
amid the crowd of other applicants, the eye of Joseph would fix on his
brethren and Benjamin. But occupied with his public duties, he
consigned them to the care of a confidential servant till he should
have finished the business of the day.
16. ruler of his house--In the houses of wealthy Egyptians one upper
man servant was intrusted with the management of the house (compare Ge
39:5).
slay, and make ready--Hebrew, "kill a killing"--implying preparations
for a grand entertainment (compare Ge 31:54; 1Sa 25:11; Pr 9:2; Mt
22:4). The animals have to be killed as well as prepared at home. The
heat of the climate requires that the cook should take the joints
directly from the hands of the flesher, and the Oriental taste is, from
habit, fond of newly killed meat. A great profusion of viands, with an
inexhaustible supply of vegetables, was provided for the repasts, to
which strangers were invited, the pride of Egyptian people consisting
rather in the quantity and variety than in the choice or delicacy of
the dishes at their table.
dine ... at noon--The hour of dinner was at midday.
18. the men were afraid--Their feelings of awe on entering the stately
mansion, unaccustomed as they were to houses at all, their anxiety at
the reasons of their being taken there, their solicitude about the
restored money, their honest simplicity in communicating their distress
to the steward and his assurances of having received their money in
"full weight," the offering of their fruit present, which would, as
usual, be done with some parade, and the Oriental salutations that
passed between their host and them--are all described in a graphic and
animated manner.
Ge 43:31-34. The Dinner.
31. Joseph said, Set on bread--equivalent to having dinner served,
"bread" being a term inclusive of all victuals. The table was a small
stool, most probably the usual round form, "since persons might even
then be seated according to their rank or seniority, and the modern
Egyptian table is not without its post of honor and a fixed gradation
of place" [Wilkinson]. Two or at most three persons were seated at one
table. But the host being the highest in rank of the company had a
table to himself; while it was so arranged that an Egyptian was not
placed nor obliged to eat from the same dish as a Hebrew.
32. Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an
abomination--The prejudice probably arose from the detestation in
which, from the oppressions of the shepherd-kings, the nation held all
of that occupation.
34. took and sent messes ... Benjamin's mess was five times--In Egypt,
as in other Oriental countries, there were, and are, two modes of
paying attention to a guest whom the host wishes to honor--either by
giving a choice piece from his own hand, or ordering it to be taken to
the stranger. The degree of respect shown consists in the quantity, and
while the ordinary rule of distinction is a double mess, it must have
appeared a very distinguished mark of favor bestowed on Benjamin to
have no less than five times any of his brethren.
they drank, and were merry with him--Hebrew, "drank freely" (same as So
5:1; Joh 2:10). In all these cases the idea of intemperance is
excluded. The painful anxieties and cares of Joseph's brethren were
dispelled, and they were at ease.
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CHAPTER 44
Ge 44:1-34. Policy to Stay His Brethren.
1. And Joseph commanded the steward--The design of putting the cup into
the sack of Benjamin was obviously to bring that young man into a
situation of difficulty or danger, in order thereby to discover how far
the brotherly feelings of the rest would be roused to sympathize with
his distress and stimulate their exertions in procuring his
deliverance. But for what purpose was the money restored? It was done,
in the first instance, from kindly feelings to his father; but another
and further design seems to have been the prevention of any injurious
impressions as to the character of Benjamin. The discovery of the cup
in his possession, if there had been nothing else to judge by, might
have fastened a painful suspicion of guilt on the youngest brother; but
the sight of the money in each man's sack would lead all to the same
conclusion, that Benjamin was just as innocent as themselves, although
the additional circumstance of the cup being found in his sack would
bring him into greater trouble and danger.
2. put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth--It was a large
goblet, as the original denotes, highly valued by its owner, on account
of its costly material or its elegant finish and which had probably
graced his table at the sumptuous entertainment of the previous day.
3. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away--They
commenced their homeward journey at early dawn (see on Ge 18:2); and it
may be readily supposed in high spirits, after so happy an issue from
all their troubles and anxieties.
4. When they were gone out of the city ... Joseph said unto his
steward--They were brought to a sudden halt by the stunning
intelligence that an article of rare value was missing from the
governor's house. It was a silver cup; so strong suspicions were
entertained against them that a special messenger was despatched to
search them.
5. Is not this it in which my lord drinketh--not only kept for the
governor's personal use, but whereby he divines. Divination by cups, to
ascertain the course of futurity, was one of the prevalent
superstitions of ancient Egypt, as it is of Eastern countries still. It
is not likely that Joseph, a pious believer in the true God, would have
addicted himself to this superstitious practice. But he might have
availed himself of that popular notion to carry out the successful
execution of his stratagem for the last decisive trial of his brethren.
6, 7. he overtook them, and he spake ... these words--The steward's
words must have come upon them like a thunderbolt, and one of their
most predominant feelings must have been the humiliating and galling
sense of being made so often objects of suspicion. Protesting their
innocence, they invited a search. The challenge was accepted [Ge 44:10,
11]. Beginning with the eldest, every sack was examined, and the cup
being found in Benjamin's [Ge 44:12], they all returned in an
indescribable agony of mind to the house of the governor [Ge 44:13],
throwing themselves at his feet [Ge 44:14], with the remarkable
confession, "God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants" [Ge
44:16].
16-34. Judah said, What shall we say?--This address needs no
comment--consisting at first of short, broken sentences, as if, under
the overwhelming force of the speaker's emotions, his utterance were
choked, it becomes more free and copious by the effort of speaking, as
he proceeds. Every word finds its way to the heart; and it may well be
imagined that Benjamin, who stood there speechless like a victim about
to be laid on the altar, when he heard the magnanimous offer of Judah
to submit to slavery for his ransom, would be bound by a lifelong
gratitude to his generous brother, a tie that seems to have become
hereditary in his tribe. Joseph's behavior must not be viewed from any
single point, or in separate parts, but as a whole--a well-thought,
deep-laid, closely connected plan; and though some features of it do
certainly exhibit an appearance of harshness, yet the pervading
principle of his conduct was real, genuine, brotherly kindness. Read in
this light, the narrative of the proceedings describes the continuous,
though secret, pursuit of one end; and Joseph exhibits, in his
management of the scheme, a very high order of intellect, a warm and
susceptible heart, united to a judgment that exerted a complete control
over his feelings--a happy invention in devising means towards the
attainment of his ends and an inflexible adherence to the course,
however painful, which prudence required.
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CHAPTER 45
Ge 45:1-28. Joseph Making Himself Known.
1. Then Joseph could not refrain himself--The severity of the
inflexible magistrate here gives way to the natural feelings of the man
and the brother. However well he had disciplined his mind, he felt it
impossible to resist the artless eloquence of Judah. He saw a
satisfactory proof, in the return of all his brethren on such an
occasion, that they were affectionately united to one another; he had
heard enough to convince him that time, reflection, or grace had made a
happy improvement on their characters; and he would probably have
proceeded in a calm and leisurely manner to reveal himself as prudence
might have dictated. But when he heard the heroic self-sacrifice of
Judah [Ge 44:33] and realized all the affection of that proposal--a
proposal for which he was totally unprepared--he was completely
unmanned; he felt himself forced to bring this painful trial to an end.
he cried, Cause every man to go out from me--In ordering the departure
of witnesses of this last scene, he acted as a warm-hearted and real
friend to his brothers--his conduct was dictated by motives of the
highest prudence--that of preventing their early iniquities from
becoming known either to the members of his household, or among the
people of Egypt.
2. he wept aloud--No doubt, from the fulness of highly excited
feelings; but to indulge in vehement and long-continued transports of
sobbing is the usual way in which the Orientals express their grief.
3. I am Joseph--or, "terrified at his presence." The emotions that now
rose in his breast as well as that of his brethren--and chased each
other in rapid succession--were many and violent. He was agitated by
sympathy and joy; they were astonished, confounded, terrified; and
betrayed their terror, by shrinking as far as they could from his
presence. So "troubled" were they, that he had to repeat his
announcement of himself; and what kind, affectionate terms he did use.
He spoke of their having sold him--not to wound their feelings, but to
convince them of his identity; and then, to reassure their minds, he
traced the agency of an overruling Providence, in his exile and present
honor [Ge 35:5-7]. Not that he wished them to roll the responsibility
of their crime on God; no, his only object was to encourage their
confidence and induce them to trust in the plans he had formed for the
future comfort of their father and themselves.
6. and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be
earing nor harvest--"Ear" is an old English word, meaning "to plough"
(compare 1Sa 8:12; Isa 30:24). This seems to confirm the view given (Ge
41:57) that the famine was caused by an extraordinary drought, which
prevented the annual overflowing of the Nile; and of course made the
land unfit to receive the seed of Egypt.
14, 15. And he fell upon ... Benjamin's neck--The sudden transition
from a condemned criminal to a fondled brother, might have occasioned
fainting or even death, had not his tumultuous feelings been relieved
by a torrent of tears. But Joseph's attentions were not confined to
Benjamin. He affectionately embraced every one of his brothers in
succession; and by those actions, his forgiveness was demonstrated more
fully than it could be by words.
17-20. Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren--As Joseph might
have been prevented by delicacy, the king himself invited the patriarch
and all his family to migrate into Egypt; and he made most liberal
arrangements for their removal and their subsequent settlement. It
displays the character of this Pharaoh to advantage, that he was so
kind to the relatives of Joseph; but indeed the greatest liberality he
could show could never recompense the services of so great a benefactor
of his kingdom.
21. Joseph gave them wagons--which must have been novelties in
Palestine; for wheeled carriages were almost unknown there.
22. changes of raiment--It was and is customary, with great men, to
bestow on their friends dresses of distinction, and in places where
they are of the same description and quality, the value of these
presents consists in their number. The great number given to Benjamin
bespoke the warmth of his brother's attachment to him; and Joseph felt,
from the amiable temper they now all displayed, he might, with perfect
safety, indulge this fond partiality for his mother's son.
23. to his father he sent--a supply of everything that could contribute
to his support and comfort--the large and liberal scale on which that
supply was given being intended, like the five messes of Benjamin, as a
token of his filial love [see on Ge 43:34].
24. so he sent his brethren away--In dismissing them on their homeward
journey, he gave them this particular admonition:
See that ye fall not out by the way--a caution that would be greatly
needed; for not only during the journey would they be occupied in
recalling the parts they had respectively acted in the events that led
to Joseph's being sold into Egypt, but their wickedness would soon have
to come to the knowledge of their venerable father.
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CHAPTER 46
Ge 46:1-4. Sacrifice at Beer-sheba.
1. Israel took his journey with all that he had--that is, his
household; for in compliance with Pharaoh's recommendation, he left his
heavy furniture behind. In contemplating a step so important as that of
leaving Canaan, which at his time of life he might never revisit, so
pious a patriarch would ask the guidance and counsel of God. With all
his anxiety to see Joseph, he would rather have died in Canaan without
that highest of earthly gratifications than leave it without the
consciousness of carrying the divine blessing along with him.
came to Beer-sheba--That place, which was in his direct route to Egypt,
had been a favorite encampment of Abraham (Ge 21:33) and Isaac (Ge
26:25), and was memorable for their experience of the divine goodness;
and Jacob seems to have deferred his public devotions till he had
reached a spot so consecrated by covenant to his own God and the God of
his fathers.
2. God spake unto Israel--Here is a virtual renewal of the covenant and
an assurance of its blessings. Moreover, here is an answer on the chief
subject of Jacob's prayer and a removal of any doubt as to the course
he was meditating. At first the prospect of paying a personal visit to
Joseph had been viewed with unmingled joy. But, on calmer
consideration, many difficulties appeared to lie in the way. He may
have remembered the prophecy to Abraham that his posterity was to be
afflicted in Egypt and also that his father had been expressly told not
to go [Ge 15:13; 26:2]; he may have feared the contamination of
idolatry to his family and their forgetfulness of the land of promise.
These doubts were removed by the answer of the oracle, and an assurance
given him of great and increasing prosperity.
3. I will there make of thee a great nation--How truly this promise was
fulfilled, appears in the fact that the seventy souls who went down
into Egypt increased [Ex 1:5-7], in the space of two hundred fifteen
years, to one hundred eighty thousand.
4. I will also surely bring thee up again--As Jacob could not expect to
live till the former promise was realized, he must have seen that the
latter was to be accomplished only to his posterity. To himself it was
literally verified in the removal of his remains to Canaan; but, in the
large and liberal sense of the words, it was made good only on the
establishment of Israel in the land of promise.
Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes--shall perform the last
office of filial piety; and this implied that he should henceforth
enjoy, without interruption, the society of that favorite son.
Ge 46:5-27. Immigration to Egypt.
5. And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba--to cross the border and settle in
Egypt. However refreshed and invigorated in spirit by the religious
services at Beer-sheba, he was now borne down by the infirmities of
advanced age; and, therefore, his sons undertook all the trouble and
toil of the arrangements, while the enfeebled old patriarch, with the
wives and children, was conveyed by slow and leisurely stages in the
Egyptian vehicles sent for their accommodation.
6. goods, which they had gotten in the land--not furniture, but
substance--precious things.
7. daughters--As Dinah was his only daughter, this must mean
daughters-in-law.
all his seed brought he with him--Though disabled by age from active
superintendence, yet, as the venerable sheik of the tribe, he was
looked upon as their common head and consulted in every step.
8-27. all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were
threescore and ten--Strictly speaking, there were only sixty-six went
to Egypt; but to these add Joseph and his two sons, and Jacob the head
of the clan, and the whole number amounts to seventy. In the speech of
Stephen (Ac 7:14) the number is stated to be seventy-five; but as that
estimate includes five sons of Ephraim and Manasseh (1Ch 7:14-20), born
in Egypt, the two accounts coincide.
Ge 46:28-34. Arrival in Egypt.
28. he sent Judah before him unto Joseph--This precautionary measure
was obviously proper for apprising the king of the entrance of so large
a company within his territories; moreover, it was necessary in order
to receive instruction from Joseph as to the locale of their future
settlement.
29, 30. Joseph made ready his chariot--The difference between chariot
and wagon was not only in the lighter and more elegant construction of
the former, but in the one being drawn by horses and the other by oxen.
Being a public man in Egypt, Joseph was required to appear everywhere
in an equipage suitable to his dignity; and, therefore, it was not
owing either to pride or ostentatious parade that he drove his
carriage, while his father's family were accommodated only in rude and
humble wagons.
presented himself unto him--in an attitude of filial reverence (compare
Ex 22:17). The interview was a most affecting one--the happiness of the
delighted father was now at its height; and life having no higher
charms, he could, in the very spirit of the aged Simeon, have departed
in peace [Lu 2:25, 29].
31-34. Joseph said, ... I will go up, and show Pharaoh--It was a
tribute of respect due to the king to inform him of their arrival. And
the instructions which he gave them were worthy of his character alike
as an affectionate brother and a religious man.
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CHAPTER 47
Ge 47:1-31. Joseph's Presentation at Court.
1. Joseph ... told Pharaoh, My father and my brethren--Joseph furnishes
a beautiful example of a man who could bear equally well the extremes
of prosperity and adversity. High as he was, he did not forget that he
had a superior. Dearly as he loved his father and anxiously as he
desired to provide for the whole family, he would not go into the
arrangements he had planned for their stay in Goshen until he had
obtained the sanction of his royal master.
2. he took some of his brethren--probably the five eldest brothers:
seniority being the least invidious principle of selection.
4. For to sojourn ... are we come--The royal conversation took the
course which Joseph had anticipated (Ge 46:33), and they answered
according to previous instructions--manifesting, however, in their
determination to return to Canaan, a faith and piety which affords a
hopeful symptom of their having become all, or most of them, religious
men.
7. Joseph brought in Jacob his father--There is a pathetic and most
affecting interest attending this interview with royalty; and when,
with all the simplicity and dignified solemnity of a man of God, Jacob
signalized his entrance by imploring the divine blessing on the royal
head, it may easily be imagined what a striking impression the scene
would produce (compare Heb 7:7).
8. Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?--The question was put
from the deep and impressive interest which the appearance of the old
patriarch had created in the minds of Pharaoh and his court. In the
low-lying land of Egypt and from the artificial habits of its society,
the age of man was far shorter among the inhabitants of that country
than it had yet become in the pure bracing climate and among the simple
mountaineers of Canaan. The Hebrews, at least, still attained a
protracted longevity.
9. The days of the years of my pilgrimage, &c.--Though a hundred thirty
years, he reckons by days (compare Ps 90:12), which he calls few, as
they appeared in retrospect, and evil, because his life had been one
almost unbroken series of trouble. The answer is remarkable,
considering the comparative darkness of the patriarchal age (compare
2Ti 1:10).
11. Joseph placed his father and his brethren ... in the best of the
land--best pasture land in lower Egypt. Goshen, "the land of verdure,"
lay along the Pelusiac or eastern branch of the Nile. It included a
part of the district of Heliopolis, or "On," the capital, and on the
east stretched out a considerable length into the desert. The ground
included within these boundaries was a rich and fertile extent of
natural meadow, and admirably adapted for the purposes of the Hebrew
shepherds (compare Ge 49:24; Ps 34:10; 78:72).
13-15. there was no bread in all the land--This probably refers to the
second year of the famine (Ge 45:6) when any little stores of
individuals or families were exhausted and when the people had become
universally dependent on the government. At first they obtained
supplies for payment. Before long money failed.
16. And Joseph said, Give your cattle--"This was the wisest course that
could be adopted for the preservation both of the people and the
cattle, which, being bought by Joseph, was supported at the royal
expense, and very likely returned to the people at the end of the
famine, to enable them to resume their agricultural labors."
21. as for the people, he removed them to cities--obviously for the
convenience of the country people, who were doing nothing, to the
cities where the corn stores were situated.
22. Only the land of the priests bought he not--These lands were
inalienable, being endowments by which the temples were supported. The
priests for themselves received an annual allowance of provision from
the state, and it would evidently have been the height of cruelty to
withhold that allowance when their lands were incapable of being
tilled.
23-28. Joseph said, Behold, &c.--The lands being sold to the government
(Ge 47:19, 20), seed would be distributed for the first crop after the
famine; and the people would occupy them as tenants-at-will on the
payment of a produce rent, almost the same rule as obtains in Egypt in
the present day.
29-31. the time drew nigh that Israel must die--One only of his dying
arrangements is recorded; but that one reveals his whole character. It
was the disposal of his remains, which were to be carried to Canaan,
not from a mere romantic attachment to his native soil, nor, like his
modern descendants, from a superstitious feeling for the soil of the
Holy Land, but from faith in the promises. His address to Joseph--"if
now I have found grace in thy sight," that is, as the vizier of
Egypt--his exacting a solemn oath that his wishes would be fulfilled
and the peculiar form of that oath, all pointed significantly to the
promise and showed the intensity of his desire to enjoy its blessings
(compare Nu 10:29).
31. Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head--Oriental beds are mere
mats, having no head, and the translation should be "the top of his
staff," as the apostle renders it (Heb 11:21).
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CHAPTER 48
Ge 48:1-22. Joseph's Visit to His Sick Father.
1. one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick--Joseph was hastily sent
for, and on this occasion he took with him his two sons.
2. Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed--In the chamber
where a good man lies, edifying and spiritual discourse may be
expected.
3, 4. God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz--The object of Jacob, in
thus reverting to the memorable vision at Beth-el [Ge 28:10-15]--one of
the great landmarks in his history--was to point out the splendid
promises in reserve for his posterity--to engage Joseph's interest and
preserve his continued connection with the people of God, rather than
with the Egyptians.
4. Behold, I will make thee fruitful--This is a repetition of the
covenant (Ge 28:13-15; 35:12). Whether these words are to be viewed in
a limited sense, as pointing to the many centuries during which the
Jews were occupiers of the Holy Land, or whether the words bear a wider
meaning and intimate that the scattered tribes of Israel are to be
reinstated in the land of promise, as their "everlasting possession,"
are points that have not yet been satisfactorily determined.
5. thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh--It was the intention of the aged
patriarch to adopt Joseph's sons as his own, thus giving him a double
portion. The reasons for this procedure are stated (1Ch 5:1, 2).
are mine--Though their connections might have attached them to Egypt
and opened to them brilliant prospects in the land of their nativity,
they willingly accepted the adoption (Heb 11:25).
9. Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them--The apostle
(Heb 11:21) selected the blessing of Joseph's son as the chief, because
the most comprehensive, instance of the patriarch's faith which his
whole history furnishes.
13. Joseph took them both--The very act of pronouncing the blessing was
remarkable, showing that Jacob's bosom was animated by the spirit of
prophecy.
21. Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die--The patriarch could speak
of death with composure, but he wished to prepare Joseph and the rest
of the family for the shock.
but God shall be with you--Jacob, in all probability, was not
authorized to speak of their bondage--he dwelt only on the certainty of
their restoration to Canaan.
22. moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren--This
was near Shechem (Ge 33:18; Joh 4:5; also Jos 16:1; 20:7). And it is
probable that the Amorites, having seized upon it during one of his
frequent absences, the patriarch, with the united forces of his tribe,
recovered it from them by his sword and his bow.
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CHAPTER 49
Ge 49:1-33. Patriarchal Blessing.
1. Jacob called unto his sons--It is not to the sayings of the dying
saint, so much as of the inspired prophet, that attention is called in
this chapter. Under the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit he
pronounced his prophetic benediction and described the condition of
their respective descendants in the last days, or future times.
Ge 49:3, 4. Reuben forfeited by his crime the rights and honors of
primogeniture. His posterity never made any figure; no judge, prophet,
nor ruler, sprang from this tribe.
Ge 49:5-7. Simeon and Levi were associate in wickedness, and the same
prediction would be equally applicable to both their tribes. Levi had
cities allotted to them (Jos 21:1-45) in every tribe. On account of
their zeal against idolatry, they were honorably "divided in Jacob";
whereas the tribe of Simeon, which was guilty of the grossest idolatry
and the vices inseparable from it, were ignominiously "scattered."
Ge 49:8-12. Judah--A high pre-eminence is destined to this tribe (Nu
10:14; Jud 1:2). Besides the honor of giving name to the Promised Land,
David, and a greater than David--the Messiah--sprang from it. Chief
among the tribes, "it grew up from a lion's whelp"--that is, a little
power--till it became "an old lion"--that is, calm and quiet, yet still
formidable.
10. until Shiloh come--Shiloh--this obscure word is variously
interpreted to mean "the sent" (Joh 17:3), "the seed" (Isa 11:1), the
"peaceable or prosperous one" (Eph 2:14)--that is, the Messiah (Isa
11:10; Ro 15:12); and when He should come, "the tribe of Judah should
no longer boast either an independent king or a judge of their own"
[Calvin]. The Jews have been for eighteen centuries without a ruler and
without a judge since Shiloh came, and "to Him the gathering of the
people has been."
Ge 49:13. Zebulun was to have its lot on the seacoast, close to Zidon,
and to engage, like that state, in maritime pursuits and commerce.
Ge 49:14, 15. Issachar--
14. a strong ass couching down between two burdens--that is, it was to
be active, patient, given to agricultural labors. It was established in
lower Galilee--a "good land," settling down in the midst of the
Canaanites, where, for the sake of quiet, they "bowed their shoulder to
bear, and became a servant unto tribute."
Ge 49:16-18. Dan--though the son of a secondary wife, was to be "as one
of the tribes of Israel."
17. Dan--"a judge."
a serpent ... an adder--A serpent, an adder, implies subtlety and
stratagem; such was pre-eminently the character of Samson, the most
illustrious of its judges.
Ge 49:19. Gad--This tribe should be often attacked and wasted by
hostile powers on their borders (Jud 10:8; Jer 49:1). But they were
generally victorious in the close of their wars.
Ge 49:20. Asher--"Blessed." Its allotment was the seacoast between Tyre
and Carmel, a district fertile in the production of the finest corn and
oil in all Palestine.
Ge 49:21. Naphtali--The best rendering we know is this, "Naphtali is a
deer roaming at liberty; he shooteth forth goodly branches," or
majestic antlers [Taylor, Scripture Illustrations], and the meaning of
the prophecy seems to be that the tribe of Naphtali would be located in
a territory so fertile and peaceable, that, feeding on the richest
pasture, he would spread out, like a deer, branching antlers.
Ge 49:22-26. Joseph--
22. a fruitful bough, &c.--denotes the extraordinary increase of that
tribe (compare Nu 1:33-35; Jos 17:17; De 33:17). The patriarch
describes him as attacked by envy, revenge, temptation, ingratitude;
yet still, by the grace of God, he triumphed over all opposition, so
that he became the sustainer of Israel; and then he proceeds to shower
blessings of every kind upon the head of this favorite son. The history
of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh shows how fully these blessings
were realized.
Ge 49:27-33. Benjamin
27. shall ravin like a wolf--This tribe in its early history spent its
energies in petty or inglorious warfare and especially in the violent
and unjust contest (Jud 19:1-20:48), in which it engaged with the other
tribes, when, notwithstanding two victories, it was almost
exterminated.
28. all these are the twelve tribes of Israel--or ancestors. Jacob's
prophetic words obviously refer not so much to the sons as to the
tribes of Israel.
29. he charged them--The charge had already been given and solemnly
undertaken (Ge 47:31). But in mentioning his wishes now and rehearsing
all the circumstances connected with the purchase of Machpelah, he
wished to declare, with his latest breath, before all his family, that
he died in the same faith as Abraham.
33. when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons--It is probable
that he was supernaturally strengthened for this last momentous office
of the patriarch, and that when the divine afflatus ceased, his
exhausted powers giving way, he yielded up the ghost, and was gathered
unto his people.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 50
Ge 50:1-26. Mourning for Jacob.
1. Joseph fell upon his father's face, &c.--On him, as the principal
member of the family, devolved the duty of closing the eyes of his
venerable parent (compare Ge 46:4) and imprinting the farewell kiss.
2. Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father,
&c.--In ancient Egypt the embalmers were a class by themselves. The
process of embalmment consisted in infusing a great quantity of
resinous substances into the cavities of the body, after the intestines
had been removed, and then a regulated degree of heat was applied to
dry up the humors, as well as decompose the tarry materials which had
been previously introduced. Thirty days were alloted for the completion
of this process; forty more were spent in anointing it with spices; the
body, tanned from this operation, being then washed, was wrapped in
numerous folds of linen cloth--the joinings of which were fastened with
gum, and then it was deposited in a wooden chest made in the form of a
human figure.
3. the Egyptians mourned, &c. It was made a period of public mourning,
as on the death of a royal personage.
4, 5. Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, &c.--Care was taken to
let it be known that the family sepulchre was provided before leaving
Canaan and that an oath bound his family to convey the remains thither.
Besides, Joseph deemed it right to apply for a special leave of
absence; and being unfit, as a mourner, to appear in the royal
presence, he made the request through the medium of others.
7-9. Joseph went up to bury his father--a journey of three hundred
miles. The funeral cavalcade, composed of the nobility and military,
with their equipages, would exhibit an imposing appearance.
10. they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, &c.--"Atad" may be taken
as a common noun, signifying "the plain of the thorn bushes." It was on
the border between Egypt and Canaan; and as the last opportunity of
indulging grief was always the most violent, the Egyptians made a
prolonged halt at this spot, while the family of Jacob probably
proceeded by themselves to the place of sepulture.
15-21. When Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they
said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, &c.--Joseph was deeply affected
by this communication. He gave them the strongest assurances of his
forgiveness and thereby gave both a beautiful trait of his own pious
character, as well as appeared an eminent type of the Saviour.
22, 23. Joseph dwelt in Egypt--He lived eighty years after his
elevation to the chief power [see on Ge 41:46] witnessing a great
increase in the prosperity of the kingdom, and also of his own family
and kindred--the infant Church of God.
24. Joseph said unto his brethren, I die--The national feelings of the
Egyptians would have been opposed to his burial in Canaan; but he gave
the strongest proof of the strength of his faith and full assurance of
the promises, by "the commandment concerning his bones" [Heb 11:22].
26. and they embalmed him--[See on Ge 50:2]. His funeral would be
conducted in the highest style of Egyptian magnificence and his mummied
corpse carefully preserved till the Exodus.
__________________________________________________________________
THE SECOND BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED
EXODUS.
Commentary by Robert Jamieson
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 1
Ex 1:1-22. Increase of the Israelites.
1. Now these are the names--(See Ge 46:8-26).
7. children of Israel were fruitful--They were living in a land where,
according to the testimony of an ancient author, mothers produced three
and four sometimes at a birth; and a modern writer declares "the
females in Egypt, as well among the human race as among animals,
surpass all others in fruitfulness." To this natural circumstance must
be added the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham.
8. Now there arose up a new king--About sixty years after the death of
Joseph a revolution took place--by which the old dynasty was
overthrown, and upper and lower Egypt were united into one kingdom.
Assuming that the king formerly reigned in Thebes, it is probable that
he would know nothing about the Hebrews; and that, as foreigners and
shepherds, the new government would, from the first, regard them with
dislike and scorn.
9, 10. he said ... Behold, the ... children of Israel are more and
mightier than we--They had risen to great prosperity--as during the
lifetime of Joseph and his royal patron, they had, probably, enjoyed a
free grant of the land. Their increase and prosperity were viewed with
jealousy by the new government; and as Goshen lay between Egypt and
Canaan, on the border of which latter country were a number of warlike
tribes, it was perfectly conformable to the suggestions of worldly
policy that they should enslave and maltreat them, through apprehension
of their joining in any invasion by those foreign rovers. The new king,
who neither knew the name nor cared for the services of Joseph, was
either Amosis, or one of his immediate successors [Osburn].
11. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters--Having first obliged
them, it is thought, to pay a ruinous rent and involved them in
difficulties, that new government, in pursuance of its oppressive
policy, degraded them to the condition of serfs--employing them exactly
as the laboring people are in the present day (driven in companies or
bands), in rearing the public works, with taskmasters, who anciently
had sticks--now whips--to punish the indolent, or spur on the too
languid. All public or royal buildings, in ancient Egypt, were built by
captives; and on some of them was placed an inscription that no free
citizen had been engaged in this servile employment.
they built for Pharaoh treasure cities--These two store-places were in
the land of Goshen; and being situated near a border liable to
invasion, they were fortified cities (compare 2Ch 11:1-12:16). Pithom
(Greek, Patumos), lay on the eastern Pelusiac branch of the Nile, about
twelve Roman miles from Heliopolis; and Raamses, called by the
Septuagint Heroopolis, lay between the same branch of the Nile and the
Bitter Lakes. These two fortified cities were situated, therefore, in
the same valley; and the fortifications, which Pharaoh commanded to be
built around both, had probably the same common object, of obstructing
the entrance into Egypt, which this valley furnished the enemy from
Asia [Hengstenberg].
13, 14. The Egyptians ... made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in
mortar, and in brick--Ruins of great brick buildings are found in all
parts of Egypt. The use of crude brick, baked in the sun, was universal
in upper and lower Egypt, both for public and private buildings; all
but the temples themselves were of crude brick. It is worthy of remark
that more bricks bearing the name of Thothmes III, who is supposed to
have been the king of Egypt at the time of the Exodus, have been
discovered than of any other period [Wilkinson]. Parties of these
brickmakers are seen depicted on the ancient monuments with
"taskmasters," some standing, others in a sitting posture beside the
laborers, with their uplifted sticks in their hands.
15. the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives--Two only were
spoken to--either they were the heads of a large corporation [Laborde],
or, by tampering with these two, the king designed to terrify the rest
into secret compliance with his wishes [Calvin].
16. if it be a son, then ye shall kill him--Opinions are divided,
however, what was the method of destruction which the king did
recommend. Some think that the "stools" were low seats on which these
obstetric practitioners sat by the bedside of the Hebrew women; and
that, as they might easily discover the sex, so, whenever a boy
appeared, they were to strangle it, unknown to its parents; while
others are of opinion that the "stools" were stone troughs, by the
river side--into which, when the infants were washed, they were to be,
as it were, accidentally dropped.
17. But the midwives feared God--Their faith inspired them with such
courage as to risk their lives, by disobeying the mandate of a cruel
tyrant; but it was blended with weakness, which made them shrink from
speaking the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
20, 21. God dealt well with the midwives--This represents God as
rewarding them for telling a lie. This difficulty is wholly removed by
a more correct translation. To "make" or "build up a house" in Hebrew
idiom, means to have a numerous progeny. The passage then should be
rendered thus: "God protected the midwives, and the people waxed very
mighty; and because the midwives feared, the Hebrews grew and
prospered."
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 2
Ex 2:1-10. Birth and Preservation of Moses.
1. there went a man of the house of Levi, &c. Amram was the husband and
Jochebed the wife (compare Ex 6:2; Nu 26:59). The marriage took place,
and two children, Miriam and Aaron, were born some years before the
infanticidal edict.
2. the woman ... bare a son, &c.--Some extraordinary appearance of
remarkable comeliness led his parents to augur his future greatness.
Beauty was regarded by the ancients as a mark of the divine favor.
hid him three months--The parents were a pious couple, and the measures
they took were prompted not only by parental attachment, but by a
strong faith in the blessing of God prospering their endeavors to save
the infant.
3. she took for him an ark of bulrushes--papyrus, a thick, strong, and
tough reed.
slime--the mud of the Nile, which, when hardened, is very tenacious.
pitch--mineral tar. Boats of this description are seen daily floating
on the surface of the river, with no other caulking than Nile mud
(compare Isa 18:2), and they are perfectly watertight, unless the
coating is forced off by stormy weather.
flags--a general term for sea or river weed. The chest was not, as is
often represented, committed to the bosom of the water but laid on the
bank, where it would naturally appear to have been drifted by the
current and arrested by the reedy thicket. The spot is traditionally
said to be the Isle of Rodah, near Old Cairo.
4. his sister--Miriam would probably be a girl of ten or twelve years
of age at the time.
5. the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river--The
occasion is thought to have been a religious solemnity which the royal
family opened by bathing in the sacred stream. Peculiar sacredness was
attached to those portions of the Nile which flowed near the temples.
The water was there fenced off as a protection from the crocodiles; and
doubtless the princess had an enclosure reserved for her own use, the
road to which seems to have been well known to Jochebed.
walked along--in procession or in file.
she sent her maid--her immediate attendant. The term is different from
that rendered "maidens."
6-9. when she had opened it, she saw the child--The narrative is
picturesque. No tale of romance ever described a plot more skilfully
laid or more full of interest in the development. The expedient of the
ark, the slime and pitch, the choice of the time and place, the appeal
to the sensibilities of the female breast, the stationing of the sister
as a watch of the proceedings, her timely suggestion of a nurse, and
the engagement of the mother herself--all bespeak a more than ordinary
measure of ingenuity as well as intense solicitude on the part of the
parents. But the origin of the scheme was most probably owing to a
divine suggestion, as its success was due to an overruling Providence,
who not only preserved the child's life, but provided for his being
trained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Hence it is said to
have been done by faith (Heb 11:23), either in the general promise of
deliverance, or some special revelation made to Amram and Jochebed--and
in this view, the pious couple gave a beautiful example of a firm
reliance on the word of God, united with an active use of the most
suitable means.
10. she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter--Though it must have been
nearly as severe a trial for Jochebed to part with him the second time
as the first, she was doubtless reconciled to it by her belief in his
high destination as the future deliverer of Israel. His age when
removed to the palace is not stated; but he was old enough to be well
instructed in the principles of the true religion; and those early
impressions, deepened by the power of divine grace, were never
forgotten or effaced.
he became her son--by adoption, and his high rank afforded him
advantages in education, which in the Providence of God were made
subservient to far different purposes from what his royal patroness
intended.
she called his name Moses--His parents might, as usual, at the time of
his circumcision, have given him a name, which is traditionally said to
have been Joachim. But the name chosen by the princess, whether of
Egyptian or Hebrew origin, is the only one by which he has ever been
known to the church; and it is a permanent memorial of the painful
incidents of his birth and infancy.
Ex 2:11-25. His Sympathy with the Hebrews.
11. in those days, when Moses was grown--not in age and stature only,
but in power as well as in renown for accomplishments and military
prowess (Ac 7:22). There is a gap here in the sacred history which,
however, is supplied by the inspired commentary of Paul, who has fully
detailed the reasons as well as extent of the change that took place in
his worldly condition; and whether, as some say, his royal mother had
proposed to make him coregent and successor to the crown, or some other
circumstances, led to a declaration of his mind, he determined to
renounce the palace and identify himself with the suffering people of
God (Heb 11:24-29). The descent of some great sovereigns, like
Diocletian and Charles V, from a throne into private life, is nothing
to the sacrifice which Moses made through the power of faith.
he went out unto his brethren--to make a full and systematic inspection
of their condition in the various parts of the country where they were
dispersed (Ac 7:23), and he adopted this proceeding in pursuance of the
patriotic purpose that the faith, which is of the operation of God, was
even then forming in his heart.
he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew--one of the taskmasters
scourging a Hebrew slave without any just cause (Ac 7:24), and in so
cruel a manner, that he seems to have died under the barbarous
treatment--for the conditions of the sacred story imply such a fatal
issue. The sight was new and strange to him, and though pre-eminent for
meekness (Nu 12:3), he was fired with indignation.
12. he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand--This act of Moses
may seem and indeed by some has been condemned as rash and
unjustifiable--in plain terms, a deed of assassination. But we must not
judge of his action in such a country and age by the standard of law
and the notions of right which prevail in our Christian land; and,
besides, not only is it not spoken of as a crime in Scripture or as
distressing the perpetrator with remorse, but according to existing
customs among nomadic tribes, he was bound to avenge the blood of a
brother. The person he slew, however, being a government officer, he
had rendered himself amenable to the laws of Egypt, and therefore he
endeavored to screen himself from the consequences by concealment of
the corpse.
13, 14. two men of the Hebrews strove together--His benevolent
mediation in this strife, though made in the kindest and mildest
manner, was resented, and the taunt of the aggressor showing that
Moses' conduct on the preceding day had become generally known, he
determined to consult his safety by immediate flight (Heb 11:27). These
two incidents prove that neither were the Israelites yet ready to go
out of Egypt, nor Moses prepared to be their leader (Jas 1:20). It was
by the staff and not the sword--by the meekness, and not the wrath of
Moses that God was to accomplish that great work of deliverance. Both
he and the people of Israel were for forty years more to be cast into
the furnace of affliction, yet it was therein that He had chosen them
(Isa 48:10).
15. Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh--His flight took place in the
second year of Thothmes I.
dwelt in the land of Midian--situated on the eastern shore of the gulf
of the Red Sea and occupied by the posterity of Midian the son of Cush.
The territory extended northward to the top of the gulf and westward
far across the desert of Sinai. And from their position near the sea,
they early combined trading with pastoral pursuits (Ge 37:28). The
headquarters of Jethro are supposed to have been where Dahab-Madian now
stands; and from Moses coming direct to that place, he may have
travelled with a caravan of merchants. But another place is fixed by
tradition in Wady Shuweib, or Jethro's valley, on the east of the
mountain of Moses.
sat down by a well--(See on Ge 29:3).
16-22. the priest of Midian--or, "prince of Midian." As the officers
were usually conjoined, he was the ruler also of the people called
Cushites or Ethiopians, and like many other chiefs of pastoral people
in that early age, he still retained the faith and worship of the true
God.
seven daughters--were shepherdesses to whom Moses was favorably
introduced by an act of courtesy and courage in protecting them from
the rude shepherds of some neighboring tribe at a well. He afterwards
formed a close and permanent alliance with this family by marrying one
of the daughters, Zipporah, "a little bird," called a Cushite or
Ethiopian (Nu 12:1), and whom Moses doubtless obtained in the manner of
Jacob by service [see Ex 3:1]. He had by her two sons, whose names
were, according to common practice, commemorative of incidents in the
family history [Ex 18:3, 4].
23. the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason
of the bondage--The language seems to imply that the Israelites had
experienced a partial relaxation, probably through the influence of
Moses' royal patroness; but in the reign of her father's successor the
persecution was renewed with increased severity.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 3
Ex 3:1-22. Divine Appearance and Commission to Moses.
1. Now Moses kept the flock--This employment he had entered on in
furtherance of his matrimonial views (see on Ex 2:21), but it is
probable he was continuing his service now on other terms like Jacob
during the latter years of his stay with Laban (Ge 30:28).
he led the flock to the backside of the desert--that is, on the west of
the desert [Gesenius], assuming Jethro's headquarters to have been at
Dahab. The route by which Moses led his flock must have been west
through the wide valley called by the Arabs, Wady-es-Zugherah
[Robinson], which led into the interior of the wilderness.
Mountain of God--so named either according to Hebrew idiom from its
great height, as "great mountains," Hebrew, "mountains of God" (Ps
36:6); "goodly cedars," Hebrew, "cedars of God" (Ps 80:10); or some
think from its being the old abode of "the glory"; or finally from its
being the theater of transactions most memorable in the history of the
true religion to Horeb--rather, "Horeb-ward."
Horeb--that is, "dry," "desert," was the general name for the
mountainous district in which Sinai is situated, and of which it is a
part. (See on Ex 19:2). It was used to designate the region
comprehending that immense range of lofty, desolate, and barren hills,
at the base of which, however, there are not only many patches of
verdure to be seen, but almost all the valleys, or wadys, as they are
called, show a thin coating of vegetation, which, towards the south,
becomes more luxuriant. The Arab shepherds seldom take their flocks to
a greater distance than one day's journey from their camp. Moses must
have gone at least two days' journey, and although he seems to have
been only following his pastoral course, that region, from its numerous
springs in the clefts of the rocks being the chief resort of the tribes
during the summer heats, the Providence of God led him thither for an
important purpose.
2, 3. the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire--It is
common in Scripture to represent the elements and operations of nature,
as winds, fires, earthquakes, pestilence, everything enlisted in
executing the divine will, as the "angels" or messengers of God. But in
such cases God Himself is considered as really, though invisibly,
present. Here the preternatural fire may be primarily meant by the
expression "angel of the Lord"; but it is clear that under this symbol,
the Divine Being was present, whose name is given (Ex 3:4, 6), and
elsewhere called the angel of the covenant, Jehovah-Jesus.
out of the midst of a bush--the wild acacia or thorn, with which that
desert abounds, and which is generally dry and brittle, so much so,
that at certain seasons, a spark might kindle a district far and wide
into a blaze. A fire, therefore, being in the midst of such a desert
bush was a "great sight." It is generally supposed to have been
emblematic of the Israelites' condition in Egypt--oppressed by a
grinding servitude and a bloody persecution, and yet, in spite of the
cruel policy that was bent on annihilating them, they continued as
numerous and thriving as ever. The reason was "God was in the midst of
them." The symbol may also represent the present state of the Jews, as
well as of the Church generally in the world.
4. when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see--The manifestations
which God anciently made of Himself were always accompanied by clear,
unmistakable signs that the communications were really from heaven.
This certain evidence was given to Moses. He saw a fire, but no human
agent to kindle it; he heard a voice, but no human lips from which it
came; he saw no living Being, but One was in the bush, in the heat of
the flames, who knew him and addressed him by name. Who could this be
but the Divine Being?
5. put off thy shoes--The direction was in conformity with a usage
which was well known to Moses, for the Egyptian priests observed it in
their temples, and it is observed in all Eastern countries where the
people take off their shoes or sandals, as we do our hats. But the
Eastern idea is not precisely the same as the Western. With us, the
removal of the hat is an expression of reverence for the place we
enter, or rather of Him who is worshipped there. With them the removal
of the shoes is a confession of personal defilement and conscious
unworthiness to stand in the presence of unspotted holiness.
6-8. I am the God ... come down to deliver--The reverential awe of
Moses must have been relieved by the divine Speaker (see Mt 22:32),
announcing Himself in His covenant character, and by the welcome
intelligence communicated. Moreover, the time, as well as all the
circumstances of this miraculous appearance, were such as to give him
an illustrious display of God's faithfulness to His promises. The
period of Israel's journey and affliction in Egypt had been predicted
(Ge 15:13), and it was during the last year of the term which had still
to run that the Lord appeared in the burning bush.
10-22. Come now therefore, and I will send thee--Considering the
patriotic views that had formerly animated the breast of Moses, we
might have anticipated that no mission could have been more welcome to
his heart than to be employed in the national emancipation of Israel.
But he evinced great reluctance to it and stated a variety of
objections [Ex 3:11, 13; 4:1, 10] all of which were successfully met
and removed--and the happy issue of his labors was minutely described.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 4
Ex 4:1-31. Miraculous Change of the Rod, &c.
1. But, behold--Hebrew, "If," "perhaps," "they will not believe
me."--What evidence can I produce of my divine mission? There was still
a want of full confidence, not in the character and divine power of his
employer, but in His presence and power always accompanying him. He
insinuated that his communication might be rejected and he himself
treated as an impostor.
2. the Lord said, ... What is that in thine hand?--The question was put
not to elicit information which God required, but to draw the
particular attention of Moses.
A rod--probably the shepherd's crook--among the Arabs, a long staff,
with a curved head, varying from three to six feet in length.
6. Put now thine hand into thy bosom--the open part of his outer robe,
worn about the girdle.
9. take of the water of the river--Nile. Those miracles, two of which
were wrought then, and the third to be performed on his arrival in
Goshen, were at first designed to encourage him as satisfactory proofs
of his divine mission, and to be repeated for the special confirmation
of his embassy before the Israelites.
10-13. I am not eloquent--It is supposed that Moses labored under a
natural defect of utterance or had a difficulty in the free and fluent
expression of his ideas in the Egyptian language, which he had long
disused. This new objection was also overruled, but still Moses, who
foresaw the manifold difficulties of the undertaking, was anxious to be
freed from the responsibility.
14. the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses--The Divine Being
is not subject to ebullitions of passion; but His displeasure was
manifested by transferring the honor of the priesthood, which would
otherwise have been bestowed on Moses, to Aaron, who was from this time
destined to be the head of the house of Levi (1Ch 23:13). Marvellous
had been His condescension and patience in dealing with Moses; and now
every remaining scruple was removed by the unexpected and welcome
intelligence that his brother Aaron was to be his colleague. God knew
from the beginning what Moses would do, but He reserves this motive to
the last as the strongest to rouse his languid heart, and Moses now
fully and cordially complied with the call. If we are surprised at his
backwardness amidst all the signs and promises that were given him, we
must admire his candor and honesty in recording it.
18. Moses ... returned to Jethro--Being in his service, it was right to
obtain his consent, but Moses evinced piety, humility, and prudence, in
not divulging the special object of his journey.
19. all the men are dead which sought thy life--The death of the
Egyptian monarch took place in the four hundred and twenty-ninth year
of the Hebrew sojourn in that land, and that event, according to the
law of Egypt, took off his proscription of Moses, if it had been
publicly issued.
20. Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an
ass--Septuagint, "asses." Those animals are not now used in the desert
of Sinai except by the Arabs for short distances.
returned--entered on his journey towards Egypt.
he took the rod of God--so called from its being appropriated to His
service, and because whatever miracles it might be employed in
performing would be wrought not by its inherent properties, but by a
divine power following on its use. (Compare Ac 3:12).
24. inn--Hebrew, "a halting place for the night."
the Lord met him, and sought to kill him--that is, he was either
overwhelmed with mental distress or overtaken by a sudden and dangerous
malady. The narrative is obscure, but the meaning seems to be, that,
led during his illness to a strict self-examination, he was deeply
pained and grieved at the thought of having, to please his wife,
postponed or neglected the circumcision of one of his sons, probably
the younger. To dishonor that sign and seal of the covenant was
criminal in any Hebrew, peculiarly so in one destined to be the leader
and deliverer of the Hebrews; and he seems to have felt his sickness as
a merited chastisement for his sinful omission. Concerned for her
husband's safety, Zipporah overcomes her maternal feelings of aversion
to the painful rite, performs herself, by means of one of the sharp
flints with which that part of the desert abounds, an operation which
her husband, on whom the duty devolved, was unable to do, and having
brought the bloody evidence, exclaimed in the painful excitement of her
feelings that from love to him she had risked the life of her child
[Calvin, Bullinger, Rosenmuller].
26. So he let him go--Moses recovered; but the remembrance of this
critical period in his life would stimulate the Hebrew legislator to
enforce a faithful attention to the rite of circumcision when it was
established as a divine ordinance in Israel, and made their peculiar
distinction as a people.
27. Aaron met him in the mount of God, and kissed him--After a
separation of forty years, their meeting would be mutually happy.
Similar are the salutations of Arab friends when they meet in the
desert still; conspicuous is the kiss on each side of the head.
29-31. Moses and Aaron went--towards Egypt, Zipporah and her sons
having been sent back. (Compare Ex 18:2).
gathered ... all the elders--Aaron was spokesman, and Moses performed
the appointed miracles--through which "the people" (that is, the
elders) believed (1Ki 17:24; Jos 3:2) and received the joyful tidings
of the errand on which Moses had come with devout thanksgiving.
Formerly they had slighted the message and rejected the messenger.
Formerly Moses had gone in his own strength; now he goes leaning on
God, and strong only through faith in Him who had sent him. Israel also
had been taught a useful lesson, and it was good for both that they had
been afflicted.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 5
Ex 5:1-23. First Interview with Pharaoh.
1. Moses and Aaron went in--As representatives of the Hebrews, they
were entitled to ask an audience of the king, and their thorough
Egyptian training taught them how and when to seek it.
and told Pharaoh--When introduced, they delivered a message in the name
of the God of Israel. This is the first time He is mentioned by that
national appellation in Scripture. It seems to have been used by divine
direction (Ex 4:2) and designed to put honor on the Hebrews in their
depressed condition (Heb 11:16).
2. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord--rather "Jehovah." Lord was a
common name applied to objects of worship; but Jehovah was a name he
had never heard of. Pharaoh estimated the character and power of this
God by the abject and miserable condition of the worshippers and
concluded that He held as low a rank among the gods as His people did
in the nation. To demonstrate the supremacy of the true God over all
the gods of Egypt, was the design of the plagues.
I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go--As his honor and
interest were both involved he determined to crush this attempt, and in
a tone of insolence, or perhaps profanity, rejected the request for the
release of the Hebrew slaves.
3. The God of the Hebrews hath met with us--Instead of being provoked
into reproaches or threats, they mildly assured him that it was not a
proposal originating among themselves, but a duty enjoined on them by
their God. They had for a long series of years been debarred from the
privilege of religious worship, and as there was reason to fear that a
continued neglect of divine ordinances would draw down upon them the
judgments of offended heaven, they begged permission to go three days'
journey into the desert--a place of seclusion--where their sacrificial
observances would neither suffer interruption nor give umbrage to the
Egyptians. In saying this, they concealed their ultimate design of
abandoning the kingdom, and by making this partial request at first,
they probably wished to try the king's temper before they disclosed
their intentions any farther. But they said only what God had put in
their mouths (Ex 3:12, 18), and this "legalizes the specific act, while
it gives no sanction to the general habit of dissimulation" [Chalmers].
4. Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works?
&c.--Without taking any notice of what they had said, he treated them
as ambitious demagogues, who were appealing to the superstitious
feelings of the people, to stir up sedition and diffuse a spirit of
discontent, which spreading through so vast a body of slaves, might
endanger the peace of the country.
6. Pharaoh commanded--It was a natural consequence of the high
displeasure created by this interview that he should put additional
burdens on the oppressed Israelites.
taskmasters--Egyptian overseers, appointed to exact labor of the
Israelites.
officers--Hebrews placed over their brethren, under the taskmasters,
precisely analogous to the Arab officers set over the Arab Fellahs, the
poor laborers in modern Egypt.
7. Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick--The making of
bricks appears to have been a government monopoly as the ancient bricks
are nearly all stamped with the name of a king, and they were formed,
as they are still in Lower Egypt, of clay mixed with chopped straw and
dried or hardened in the sun. The Israelites were employed in this
drudgery; and though they still dwelt in Goshen and held property in
flocks and herds, they were compelled in rotation to serve in the brick
quarries, pressed in alternating groups, just as the fellaheen, or
peasants, are marched by press gangs in the same country still.
let them go and gather straw for themselves--The enraged despot did not
issue orders to do an impracticable thing. The Egyptian reapers in the
corn harvest were accustomed merely to cut off the ears and leave the
stalk standing.
8. tale--an appointed number of bricks. The materials of their labor
were to be no longer supplied, and yet, as the same amount of produce
was exacted daily, it is impossible to imagine more aggravated
cruelty--a perfect specimen of Oriental despotism.
12. So the people were scattered--It was an immense grievance to the
laborers individually, but there would be no hindrance from the
husbandmen whose fields they entered, as almost all the lands of Egypt
were in the possession of the crown (Ge 47:20).
13-19. And the taskmasters hasted them ... officers ... beaten--As the
nearest fields were bared and the people had to go farther for stubble,
it was impossible for them to meet the demand by the usual tale of
bricks. "The beating of the officers is just what might have been
expected from an Eastern tyrant, especially in the valley of the Nile,
as it appears from the monuments, that ancient Egypt, like modern
China, was principally governed by the stick" [Taylor]. "The mode of
beating was by the offender being laid flat on the ground and generally
held by the hands and feet while the chastisement was administered"
[Wilkinson]. (De 25:2). A picture representing the Hebrews on a brick
field, exactly as described in this chapter, was found in an Egyptian
tomb at Thebes.
20, 21. they met Moses ... The Lord look upon you, and judge--Thus the
deliverer of Israel found that this patriotic interference did, in the
first instance, only aggravate the evil he wished to remove, and that
instead of receiving the gratitude, he was loaded with the reproaches
of his countrymen. But as the greatest darkness is immediately before
the dawn, so the people of God are often plunged into the deepest
affliction when on the eve of their deliverance; and so it was in this
case.
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CHAPTER 6
Ex 6:1-13. Renewal of the Promise.
1. the Lord said unto Moses--The Lord, who is long-suffering and
indulgent to the errors and infirmities of His people, made allowance
for the mortification of Moses as the result of this first interview
and cheered him with the assurance of a speedy and successful
termination to his embassy.
2. And God spake unto Moses--For his further encouragement, there was
made to him an emphatic repetition of the promise (Ex 3:20).
3. I ... God Almighty--All enemies must fall, all difficulties must
vanish before My omnipotent power, and the patriarchs had abundant
proofs of this.
but by my name, &c.--rather, interrogatively, by My name Jehovah was I
not known to them? Am not I, the Almighty God, who pledged My honor for
the fulfilment of the covenant, also the self-existent God who lives to
accomplish it? Rest assured, therefore, that I shall bring it to pass.
This passage has occasioned much discussion; and it has been thought by
many to intimate that as the name Jehovah was not known to the
patriarchs, at least in the full bearing or practical experience of it,
the honor of the disclosure was reserved to Moses, who was the first
sent with a message in the name of Jehovah, and enabled to attest it by
a series of public miracles.
9-11. Moses spake so unto the children of Israel--The increased
severities inflicted on the Israelites seem to have so entirely crushed
their spirits, as well as irritated them, that they refused to listen
to any more communications (Ex 14:12). Even the faith of Moses himself
was faltering; and he would have abandoned the enterprise in despair
had he not received a positive command from God to revisit the people
without delay, and at the same time renew their demand on the king in a
more decisive and peremptory tone.
12. how then shall ... who am of uncircumcised lips?--A metaphorical
expression among the Hebrews, who, taught to look on the circumcision
of any part as denoting perfection, signified its deficiency or
unsuitableness by uncircumcision. The words here express how painfully
Moses felt his want of utterance or persuasive oratory. He seems to
have fallen into the same deep despondency as his brethren, and to be
shrinking with nervous timidity from a difficult, if not desperate,
cause. If he had succeeded so ill with the people, whose dearest
interests were all involved, what better hope could he entertain of his
making more impression on the heart of a king elated with pride and
strong in the possession of absolute power? How strikingly was the
indulgent forbearance of God displayed towards His people amid all
their backwardness to hail His announcement of approaching deliverance!
No perverse complaints or careless indifference on their part retarded
the development of His gracious purposes. On the contrary, here, as
generally, the course of His providence is slow in the infliction of
judgments, while it moves more quickly, as it were, when misery is to
be relieved or benefits conferred.
Ex 6:14-30. The Genealogy of Moses.
14, 15. These be the heads of their fathers' houses--chiefs or
governors of their houses. The insertion of this genealogical table in
this part of the narrative was intended to authenticate the descent of
Moses and Aaron. Both of them were commissioned to act so important a
part in the events transacted in the court of Egypt and afterwards
elevated to so high offices in the government and Church of God, that
it was of the utmost importance that their lineage should be accurately
traced. Reuben and Simeon being the oldest of Jacob's sons, a passing
notice is taken of them, and then the historian advances to the
enumeration of the principal persons in the house of Levi [Ex 6:16-19].
20. Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife--The Septuagint
and Syriac versions render it "his cousin."
23. Elisheba--that is, Elizabethan. These minute particulars recorded
of the family of Aaron, while he has passed over his own, indicate the
real modesty of Moses. An ambitious man or an impostor would have acted
in a different manner.
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CHAPTER 7
Ex 7:1-25. Second Interview with Pharaoh.
1. the Lord said unto Moses--He is here encouraged to wait again on the
king--not, however, as formerly, in the attitude of a humble suppliant,
but now armed with credentials as God's ambassador, and to make his
demand in a tone and manner which no earthly monarch or court ever
witnessed.
I have made thee a god--"made," that is, set, appointed; "a god"; that
is, he was to act in this business as God's representative, to act and
speak in His name and to perform things beyond the ordinary course of
nature. The Orientals familiarly say of a man who is eminently great or
wise, "he is a god" among men.
Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet--that is, "interpreter" or
"spokesman." The one was to be the vicegerent of God, and the other
must be considered the speaker throughout all the ensuing scenes, even
though his name is not expressly mentioned.
3. I will harden Pharaoh's heart--This would be the result. But the
divine message would be the occasion, not the cause of the king's
impenitent obduracy.
4, 5. I may lay mine hand upon Egypt, &c.--The succession of terrible
judgments with which the country was about to be scourged would fully
demonstrate the supremacy of Israel's God.
7. Moses was fourscore years old--This advanced age was a pledge that
they had not been readily betrayed into a rash or hazardous enterprise,
and that under its attendant infirmities they could not have carried
through the work on which they were entering had they not been
supported by a divine hand.
9. When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, &c.--The king would naturally
demand some evidence of their having been sent from God; and as he
would expect the ministers of his own gods to do the same works, the
contest, in the nature of the case, would be one of miracles. Notice
has already been taken of the rod of Moses (Ex 4:2), but rods were
carried also by all nobles and official persons in the court of
Pharaoh. It was an Egyptian custom, and the rods were symbols of
authority or rank. Hence God commanded His servants to use a rod.
10. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, &c.--It is to be presumed
that Pharaoh had demanded a proof of their divine mission.
11. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, &c.--His
object in calling them was to ascertain whether this doing of Aaron's
was really a work of divine power or merely a feat of magical art. The
magicians of Egypt in modern times have been long celebrated adepts in
charming serpents, and particularly by pressing the nape of the neck,
they throw them into a kind of catalepsy, which renders them stiff and
immovable--thus seeming to change them into a rod. They conceal the
serpent about their persons, and by acts of legerdemain produce it from
their dress, stiff and straight as a rod. Just the same trick was
played off by their ancient predecessors, the most renowned of whom,
Jannes and Jambres (2Ti 3:8), were called in on this occasion. They had
time after the summons to make suitable preparations--and so it appears
they succeeded by their "enchantments" in practising an illusion on the
senses.
12. but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods--This was what they could
not be prepared for, and the discomfiture appeared in the loss of their
rods, which were probably real serpents.
14. Pharaoh's heart is hardened--Whatever might have been his first
impressions, they were soon dispelled; and when he found his magicians
making similar attempts, he concluded that Aaron's affair was a magical
deception, the secret of which was not known to his wise men.
15. Get thee unto Pharaoh--Now began those appalling miracles of
judgment by which the God of Israel, through His ambassadors, proved
His sole and unchallengeable supremacy over all the gods of Egypt, and
which were the natural phenomena of Egypt, at an unusual season, and in
a miraculous degree of intensity. The court of Egypt, whether held at
Rameses, or Memphis, or Tanis in the field of Zoan (Ps 78:12), was the
scene of those extraordinary transactions, and Moses must have resided
during that terrible period in the immediate neighborhood.
in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water--for the purpose of
ablutions or devotions perhaps; for the Nile was an object of
superstitious reverence, the patron deity of the country. It might be
that Moses had been denied admission into the palace; but be that as it
may, the river was to be the subject of the first plague, and
therefore, he was ordered to repair to its banks with the
miracle-working rod, now to be raised, not in demonstration, but in
judgment, if the refractory spirit of the king should still refuse
consent to Israel's departure for their sacred rites.
17-21. Aaron lifted up the rod and smote the waters, &c.--Whether the
water was changed into real blood, or only the appearance of it (and
Omnipotence could effect the one as easily as the other), this was a
severe calamity. How great must have been the disappointment and
disgust throughout the land when the river became of a blood red color,
of which they had a national abhorrence; their favorite beverage became
a nauseous draught, and the fish, which formed so large an article of
food, were destroyed. [See on Nu 11:5.] The immense scale on which the
plague was inflicted is seen by its extending to "the streams," or
branches of the Nile--to the "rivers," the canals, the "ponds" and
"pools," that which is left after an overflow, the reservoirs, and the
many domestic vessels in which the Nile water was kept to filter. And
accordingly the sufferings of the people from thirst must have been
severe. Nothing could more humble the pride of Egypt than this dishonor
brought on their national god.
22. And the magicians ... did so with their enchantments, &c.--Little
or no pure water could be procured, and therefore their imitation must
have been on a small scale--the only drinkable water available being
dug among the sands. It must have been on a sample or specimen of water
dyed red with some coloring matter. But it was sufficient to serve as a
pretext or command for the king to turn unmoved and go to his house.
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CHAPTER 8
Ex 8:1-15. Plague of Frogs.
1. the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh--The duration of the
first plague for a whole week must have satisfied all that it was
produced not by any accidental causes, but by the agency of omnipotent
power. As a judgment of God, however, it produced no good effect, and
Moses was commanded to wait on the king and threaten him, in the event
of his continued obstinacy, with the infliction of a new and different
plague. As Pharaoh's answer is not given, it may be inferred to have
been unfavorable, for the rod was again raised.
2. I will smite all thy borders with frogs--Those animals, though the
natural spawn of the river, and therefore objects familiar to the
people, were on this occasion miraculously multiplied to an amazing
extent, and it is probable that the ova of the frogs, which had been
previously deposited in the mire and marshes, were miraculously brought
to perfection at once.
3. bedchamber ... bed--mats strewed on the floor as well as more
sumptuous divans of the rich.
ovens--holes made in the ground and the sides of which are plastered
with mortar.
kneading-troughs--Those used in Egypt were bowls of wicker or rush
work. What must have been the state of the people when they could find
no means of escape from the cold, damp touch and unsightly presence of
the frogs, as they alighted on every article and vessel of food!
5, 6. Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, &c. The
miracle consisted in the reptiles leaving their marshes at the very
time he commanded them.
7. the magicians did so with their enchantments--required no great art
to make the offensive reptiles appear on any small spot of ground. What
they undertook to do already existed in abundance all around. They
would better have shown their power by removing the frogs.
8-15. Pharaoh called, ... Intreat the Lord, that he may take away the
frogs from me--The frog, which was now used as an instrument of
affliction, whether from reverence or abhorrence, was an object of
national superstition with the Egyptians, the god Ptha being
represented with a frog's head. But the vast numbers, together with
their stench, made them an intolerable nuisance so that the king was so
far humbled as to promise that, if Moses would intercede for their
removal, he would consent to the departure of Israel, and in compliance
with this appeal, they were withdrawn at the very hour named by the
monarch himself. But many, while suffering the consequences of their
sins, make promises of amendment and obedience which they afterwards
forget; and so Pharaoh, when he saw there was a respite, was again
hardened [Ex 8:15].
Ex 8:16-19. Plague of Lice.
16. smite the dust of the land, &c.--Aaron's rod, by the direction of
Moses, who was commanded by God, was again raised, and the land was
filled with gnats, mosquitoes--that is the proper meaning of the
original term. In ordinary circumstances they embitter life in Eastern
countries, and therefore the terrible nature of this infliction on
Egypt may be imagined when no precautions could preserve from their
painful sting. The very smallness and insignificance of these fierce
insects made them a dreadful scourge. The magicians never attempted any
imitation, and what neither the blood of the river nor the nuisance of
the frogs had done, the visitation of this tiny enemy constrained them
to acknowledge "this is the finger of God"--properly "gods," for they
spoke as heathens.
Ex 8:20-32. Plague of Flies.
20-24. Rise up early ... Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water,
&c.--Pharaoh still appearing obdurate, Moses was ordered to meet him
while walking on the banks of the Nile and repeat his request for the
liberation of Israel, threatening in case of continued refusal to cover
every house from the palace to the cottage with swarms of flies--while,
as a proof of the power that accomplished this judgment, the land of
Goshen should be exempted from the calamity. The appeal was equally
vain as before, and the predicted evil overtook the country in the form
of what was not "flies," such as we are accustomed to, but divers sorts
of flies (Ps 78:45), the gad fly, the cockroach, the Egyptian beetle,
for all these are mentioned by different writers. They are very
destructive, some of them inflicting severe bites on animals, others
destroying clothes, books, plants, every thing. The worship of flies,
particularly of the beetle, was a prominent part of the religion of the
ancient Egyptians. The employment of these winged deities to chastise
them must have been painful and humiliating to the Egyptians while it
must at the same time have strengthened the faith of the Israelites in
the God of their fathers as the only object of worship.
25-32. Pharaoh called for Moses, ... Go ye, sacrifice to your God in
the land, &c.--Between impatient anxiety to be freed from this scourge
and a reluctance on the part of the Hebrew bondsmen, the king followed
the course of expediency; he proposed to let them free to engage in
their religious rites within any part of the kingdom. But true to his
instructions, Moses would accede to no such arrangement; he stated a
most valid reason to show the danger of it, and the king having yielded
so far as to allow them a brief holiday across the border, annexed to
this concession a request that Moses would entreat with Jehovah for the
removal of the plague. He promised to do so, and it was removed the
following day. But no sooner was the pressure over than the spirit of
Pharaoh, like a bent bow, sprang back to its wonted obduracy, and,
regardless of his promise, he refused to let the people depart.
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CHAPTER 9
Ex 9:1-7. Murrain of Beasts.
3-5. Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle--A fifth
application was made to Pharaoh in behalf of the Israelites by Moses,
who was instructed to tell him that, if he persisted in opposing their
departure, a pestilence would be sent among all the flocks and herds of
the Egyptians, while those of the Israelites would be spared. As he
showed no intention of keeping his promise, he was still a mark for the
arrows of the Almighty's quiver, and the threatened plague of which he
was forewarned was executed. But it is observable that in this instance
it was not inflicted through the instrumentality or waving of Aaron's
rod, but directly by the hand of the Lord, and the fixing of the
precise time tended still further to determine the true character of
the calamity (Jer 12:4).
6. all the cattle of Egypt died--not absolutely every beast, for we
find (Ex 9:19, 21) that there were still some left; but a great many
died of each herd--the mortality was frequent and widespread. The
adaptation of this judgment consisted in Egyptians venerating the more
useful animals such as the ox, the cow, and the ram; in all parts of
the country temples were reared and divine honors paid to these
domesticated beasts, and thus while the pestilence caused a great loss
in money, it also struck a heavy blow at their superstition.
7. Pharaoh sent ... there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites
dead--The despatch of confidential messengers indicates that he would
not give credit to vague reports, and we may conclude that some
impression had been made on his mind by that extraordinary exemption,
but it was neither a good nor a permanent impression. His pride and
obstinacy were in no degree subdued.
Ex 9:8-17. Plague of Boils.
8. Take to you handfuls of ashes, &c.--The next plague assailed the
persons of the Egyptians, and it appeared in the form of ulcerous
eruptions upon the skin and flesh (Le 13:20; 2Ki 20:7; Job 2:7). That
this epidemic did not arise from natural causes was evident from its
taking effect from the particular action of Moses done in the sight of
Pharaoh. The attitude he assumed was similar to that of Eastern
magicians, who, "when they pronounce an imprecation on an individual, a
village, or a country, take the ashes of cows' dung (that is, from a
common fire) and throw them in the air, saying to the objects of their
displeasure, such a sickness or such a curse shall come upon you"
[Roberts].
10. Moses took ashes from the furnace--Hebrew, "brick-kiln." The
magicians, being sufferers in their own persons, could do nothing,
though they had been called; and as the brick-kiln was one of the
principal instruments of oppression to the Israelites [De 4:20; 1Ki
8:51; Jer 11:4], it was now converted into a means of chastisement to
the Egyptians, who were made to read their sin in their punishment.
Ex 9:18-35. Plague of Hail.
18. I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, &c.--The seventh
plague which Pharaoh's hardened heart provoked was that of hail, a
phenomenon which must have produced the greatest astonishment and
consternation in Egypt as rain and hailstones, accompanied by thunder
and lightning, were very rare occurrences.
such as hath not been in Egypt--In the Delta, or lower Egypt, where the
scene is laid, rain occasionally falls between January and March--hail
is not unknown, and thunder sometimes heard. But a storm, not only
exhibiting all these elements, but so terrific that hailstones of
immense size fell, thunder pealed in awful volleys, and lightning swept
the ground like fire, was an unexampled calamity.
20, 21. He that feared the word of the Lord ... regarded not, &c.--Due
premonition, it appears, had been publicly given of the impending
tempest--the cattle seem to have been sent out to graze, which is from
January to April, when alone pasturage can be obtained, and accordingly
the cattle were in the fields. This storm occurring at that season, not
only struck universal terror into the minds of the people, but
occasioned the destruction of all--people and cattle--which, in neglect
of the warning, had been left in the fields, as well as of all
vegetation [Ex 9:25]. It was the more appalling because hailstones in
Egypt are small and of little force; lightning also is scarcely ever
known to produce fatal effects; and to enhance the wonder, not a trace
of any storm was found in Goshen [Ex 9:26].
27-35. Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto
them, I have sinned--This awful display of divine displeasure did
seriously impress the mind of Pharaoh, and, under the weight of his
convictions, he humbles himself to confess he has done wrong in
opposing the divine will. At the same time he calls for Moses to
intercede for cessation of the calamity. Moses accedes to his earnest
wishes, and this most awful visitation ended. But his repentance proved
a transient feeling, and his obduracy soon became as great as before.
31, 32. the flax and the barley was smitten, &c.--The peculiarities
that are mentioned in these cereal products arise from the climate and
physical constitution of Egypt. In that country flax and barley are
almost ripe when wheat and rye (spelt) are green. And hence the flax
must have been "bolled"--that is, risen in stalk or podded in February,
thus fixing the particular month when the event took place. Barley
ripens about a month earlier than wheat. Flax and barley are generally
ripe in March, wheat and rye (properly, spelt) in April.
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CHAPTER 10
Ex 10:1-20. Plague of Locusts.
1. show these my signs, &c.--Sinners even of the worst description are
to be admonished even though there may be little hope of amendment, and
hence those striking miracles that carried so clear and conclusive
demonstration of the being and character of the true God were performed
in lengthened series before Pharaoh to leave him without excuse when
judgment should be finally executed.
2. And that thou mayest tell ... of thy son, and of thy son's son,
&c.--There was a further and higher reason for the infliction of those
awful judgments, namely, that the knowledge of them there, and the
permanent record of them still, might furnish a salutary and impressive
lesson to the Church down to the latest ages. Worldly historians might
have described them as extraordinary occurrences that marked this era
of Moses in ancient Egypt. But we are taught to trace them to their
cause: the judgments of divine wrath on a grossly idolatrous king and
nation.
4. to-morrow will I bring the locusts--Moses was commissioned to renew
the request, so often made and denied, with an assurance that an
unfavorable answer would be followed on the morrow by an invasion of
locusts. This species of insect resembles a large, spotted, red and
black, double-winged grasshopper, about three inches or less in length,
with the two hind legs working like hinged springs of immense strength
and elasticity. Perhaps no more terrible scourge was ever brought on a
land than those voracious insects, which fly in such countless numbers
as to darken the land which they infest; and on whatever place they
alight, they convert it into a waste and barren desert, stripping the
ground of its verdure, the trees of their leaves and bark, and
producing in a few hours a degree of desolation which it requires the
lapse of years to repair.
7-11. Pharaoh's servants said--Many of his courtiers must have suffered
serious losses from the late visitations, and the prospect of such a
calamity as that which was threatened and the magnitude of which former
experience enabled them to realize, led them to make a strong
remonstrance with the king. Finding himself not seconded by his
counsellors in his continued resistance, he recalled Moses and Aaron,
and having expressed his consent to their departure, inquired who were
to go. The prompt and decisive reply, "all," neither man nor beast
shall remain, raised a storm of indignant fury in the breast of the
proud king. He would permit the grown-up men to go away; but no other
terms would be listened to.
11. they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence--In the East, when a
person of authority and rank feels annoyed by a petition which he is
unwilling to grant, he makes a signal to his attendants, who rush
forward and, seizing the obnoxious suppliant by the neck, drag him out
of the chamber with violent haste. Of such a character was the
impassioned scene in the court of Egypt when the king had wrought
himself into such a fit of uncontrollable fury as to treat
ignominiously the two venerable representatives of the Hebrew people.
13-19. the Lord brought an east wind--The rod of Moses was again
raised, and the locusts came. They are natives of the desert and are
only brought by an east wind into Egypt, where they sometimes come in
sun-obscuring clouds, destroying in a few days every green blade in the
track they traverse. Man, with all his contrivances, can do nothing to
protect himself from the overwhelming invasion. Egypt has often
suffered from locusts. But the plague that followed the wave of the
miraculous rod was altogether unexampled. Pharaoh, fearing
irretrievable ruin to his country, sent in haste for Moses, and
confessing his sin, implored the intercession of Moses, who entreated
the Lord, and a "mighty strong west wind took away the locusts."
Ex 10:21-29. Plague of Darkness.
21-23. Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be
darkness--Whatever secondary means were employed in producing it,
whether thick clammy fogs and vapors, according to some; a sandstorm,
or the chamsin, according to others; it was such that it could be
almost perceived by the organs of touch, and so protracted as to
continue for three days, which the chamsin does [Hengstenberg]. The
appalling character of this calamity consisted in this, that the sun
was an object of Egyptian idolatry; that the pure and serene sky of
that country was never marred by the appearance of a cloud. And here,
too, the Lord made a marked difference between Goshen and the rest of
Egypt.
24-26. Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the
Lord--Terrified by the preternatural darkness, the stubborn king
relents, and proposes another compromise--the flocks and herds to be
left as hostages for their return. But the crisis is approaching, and
Moses insists on every iota of his demand. The cattle would be needed
for sacrifice--how many or how few could not be known till their
arrival at the scene of religious observance. But the emancipation of
Israel from Egyptian bondage was to be complete.
28. Pharaoh said, ... Get thee from me--The calm firmness of Moses
provoked the tyrant. Frantic with disappointment and rage, with
offended and desperate malice, he ordered him from his presence and
forbade him ever to return.
29. Moses said, Thou hast spoken well.
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CHAPTER 11
Ex 11:1-10. Death of the First-born Threatened.
1. the Lord said--rather, "had said unto Moses." It may be inferred,
therefore, that he had been apprised that the crisis had now arrived,
that the next plague would so effectually humble and alarm the mind of
Pharaoh, that he would "thrust them out thence altogether"; and thus
the word of Moses (Ex 10:29), must be regarded as a prediction.
2, 3. Speak now in the ears of the people--These verses, describing the
communication which had been made in private to Moses, are inserted
here as a parenthesis, and will be considered (Ex 12:35).
4. Thus saith the Lord, About midnight--Here is recorded the
announcement of the last plague made in the most solemn manner to the
king, on whose hardened heart all his painful experience had hitherto
produced no softening, at least no permanently good effect.
will I go out into the midst of Egypt--language used after the manner
of men.
5. And all the first-born in the land ... shall die--The time, the
suddenness, the dreadful severity of this coming calamity, and the
peculiar description of victims, among both men and beasts, on whom it
was to fall, would all contribute to aggravate its character.
the maid-servant that is behind the mill--The grinding of the meal for
daily use in every household is commonly done by female slaves and is
considered the lowest employment. Two portable millstones are used for
the purpose, of which the uppermost is turned by a small wooden handle,
and during the operation the maid sits behind the mill.
6. shall be a great cry throughout all the land--In the case of a
death, people in the East set up loud wailings, and imagination may
conceive what "a great cry" would be raised when death would invade
every family in the kingdom.
7. against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his
tongue--No town or village in Egypt or in the East generally is free
from the nuisance of dogs, who prowl about the streets and make the
most hideous noise at any passers-by at night. What an emphatic
significance does the knowledge of this circumstance give to this fact
in the sacred record, that on the awful night that was coming, when the
air should be rent with the piercing shrieks of mourners, so great and
universal would be the panic inspired by the hand of God, that not a
dog would move his tongue against the children of Israel!
8. all these thy servants shall ... bow down themselves unto me--This
would be the effect of the universal terror; the hearts of the proudest
would be humbled and do reverential homage to God, in the person of His
representative.
went out ... in a great anger--Holy and righteous indignation at the
duplicity, repeated falsehood, and hardened impenitence of the king;
and this strong emotion was stirred in the bosom of Moses, not at the
ill reception given to himself, but the dishonor done to God (Mt 19:8;
Eph 4:26).
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CHAPTER 12
Ex 12:1-10. The Passover Instituted.
1. the Lord spake unto Moses--rather, "had spoken unto Moses and
Aaron"; for it is evident that the communication here described must
have been made to them on or before the tenth of the month.
2. this month shall be unto you the beginning of months--the first not
only in order but in estimation. It had formerly been the seventh
according to the reckoning of the civil year, which began in September,
and continued unchanged, but it was thenceforth to stand first in the
national religious year which began in March, April.
3. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel--The recent events had
prepared the Israelitish people for a crisis in their affairs, and they
seem to have yielded implicit obedience at this time to Moses. It is
observable that, amid all the hurry and bustle of such a departure,
their serious attention was to be given to a solemn act of religion.
a lamb for an house--a kid might be taken (Ex 12:5). The service was to
be a domestic one, for the deliverance was to be from an evil
threatened to every house in Egypt.
4. if the household be too little for the lamb, &c.--It appears from
Josephus that ten persons were required to make up the proper paschal
communion.
every man according to his eating--It is said that the quantity eaten
of the paschal lamb, by each individual, was about the size of an
olive.
5. lamb ... without blemish--The smallest deformity or defect made a
lamb unfit for sacrifice--a type of Christ (Heb 7:26; 1Pe 1:19).
a male of the first year--Christ in the prime of life.
6. keep it up until the fourteenth day, &c.--Being selected from the
rest of the flock, it was to be separated four days before sacrifice;
and for the same length of time was Christ under examination and His
spotless innocence declared before the world.
kill it in the evening--that is, the interval between the sun's
beginning to decline, and sunset, corresponding to our three o'clock in
the afternoon.
7. take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts, &c.--as a
sign of safety to those within. The posts must be considered of tents,
in which the Israelites generally lived, though some might be in
houses. Though the Israelites were sinners as well as the Egyptians,
God was pleased to accept the substitution of a lamb--the blood of
which, being seen sprinkled on the doorposts, procured them mercy. It
was to be on the sideposts and upper doorposts, where it might be
looked to, not on the threshold, where it might be trodden under foot.
This was an emblem of the blood of sprinkling (Heb 12:24; 10:29).
8. roast with fire--for the sake of expedition; and this difference was
always observed between the cooking of the paschal lamb and the other
offerings (2Ch 35:13).
unleavened bread--also for the sake of despatch (De 16:3), but as a
kind of corruption (Lu 12:1) there seems to have been a typical meaning
under it (1Co 5:8).
bitter herbs--literally, "bitters"--to remind the Israelites of their
affliction in Egypt, and morally of the trials to which God's people
are subject on account of sin.
9. Eat not of it raw--that is, with any blood remaining; a caveat
against conformity to idolatrous practices. It was to be roasted whole,
not a bone to be broken, and this pointed to Christ (Joh 19:36).
10. let nothing of it remain until the morning--which might be applied
in a superstitious manner, or allowed to putrefy, which in a hot
climate would speedily have ensued; and which was not becoming in what
had been offered to God.
Ex 12:11-14. The Rite of the Passover.
11. thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your
feet--as prepared for a journey. The first was done by the skirts of
the loose outer cloth being drawn up and fastened in the girdle, so as
to leave the leg and knee free for motion. As to the other, the
Orientals never wear shoes indoors, and the ancient Egyptians, as
appears from the monuments, did not usually wear either shoes or
sandals. These injunctions seem to have applied chiefly to the first
celebration of the rite.
it is the Lord's passover--called by this name from the blood-marked
dwellings of the Israelites being passed over figuratively by the
destroying angel.
12. smite ... gods of Egypt--perhaps used here for princes and
grandees. But, according to Jewish tradition, the idols of Egypt were
all on that night broken in pieces (see Nu 33:4; Isa 19:1).
14. for a memorial, &c.--The close analogy traceable in all points
between the Jewish and Christian passovers is seen also in the
circumstance that both festivals were instituted before the events they
were to commemorate had transpired.
Ex 12:15-51. Unleavened Bread.
15. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread, &c.--This was to
commemorate another circumstance in the departure of the Israelites,
who were urged to leave so hurriedly that their dough was unleavened
(Ex 12:39), and they had to eat unleavened cakes (De 16:3). The
greatest care was always taken by the Jews to free their houses from
leaven--the owner searching every corner of his dwelling with a lighted
candle. A figurative allusion to this is made (1Co 5:7). The exclusion
of leaven for seven days would not be attended with inconvenience in
the East, where the usual leaven is dough kept till it becomes sour,
and it is kept from one day to another for the purpose of preserving
leaven in readiness. Thus even were there none in all the country, it
could be got within twenty-four hours [Harmer].
that soul shall be cut off--excommunicated from the community and
privileges of the chosen people.
16. there shall be an holy convocation--literally, calling of the
people, which was done by sound of trumpets (Nu 10:2), a sacred
assembly--for these days were to be regarded as Sabbaths--excepting
only that meat might be cooked on them (Ex 16:23).
17. ye shall observe, &c.--The seven days of this feast were to
commence the day after the passover. It was a distinct festival
following that feast; but although this feast was instituted like the
passover before the departure, the observance of it did not take place
till after.
19. stranger--No foreigner could partake of the passover, unless
circumcised; the "stranger" specified as admissible to the privilege
must, therefore, be considered a Gentile proselyte.
21-25. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, &c.--Here are
given special directions for the observance.
22. hyssop--a small red moss [Hasselquist]; the caper-plant [Royle]. It
was used in the sprinkling, being well adapted for such purposes, as it
grows in bushes--putting out plenty of suckers from a single root. And
it is remarkable that it was ordained in the arrangements of an
all-wise Providence that the Roman soldiers should undesignedly, on
their part, make use of this symbolical plant to Christ when, as our
Passover, He was sacrificed for us [Joh 19:29].
none ... shall go out at the door of his house until the morning--This
regulation was peculiar to the first celebration, and intended, as some
think, to prevent any suspicion attaching to them of being agents in
the impending destruction of the Egyptians; there is an allusion to it
(Isa 26:20).
26. when your children shall say, ... What mean ye by this
service--Independently of some observances which were not afterwards
repeated, the usages practised at this yearly commemorative feast were
so peculiar that the curiosity of the young would be stimulated, and
thus parents had an excellent opportunity, which they were enjoined to
embrace, for instructing each rising generation in the origin and
leading facts of the national faith.
27, 28. the people bowed the head, and worshipped--All the preceding
directions were communicated through the elders, and the Israelites,
being deeply solemnized by the influence of past and prospective
events, gave prompt and faithful obedience.
29. at midnight the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of
Egypt--At the moment when the Israelites were observing the newly
instituted feast in the singular manner described, the threatened
calamity overtook the Egyptians. It is more easy to imagine than
describe the confusion and terror of that people suddenly roused from
sleep and enveloped in darkness--none could assist their neighbors when
the groans of the dying and the wild shrieks of mourners were heard
everywhere around. The hope of every family was destroyed at a stroke.
This judgment, terrible though it was, evinced the equity of divine
retribution. For eighty years the Egyptians had caused the male
children of the Israelites to be cast into the river [Ex 1:16], and now
all their own first-born fell under the stroke of the destroying angel.
They were made, in the justice of God, to feel something of what they
had made His people feel. Many a time have the hands of sinners made
the snares in which they have themselves been entangled, and fallen
into the pit which they have dug for the righteous [Pr 28:10]. "Verily
there is a God that judgeth in the earth" [Ps 58:11].
30. there was not a house where there was not one dead--Perhaps this
statement is not to be taken absolutely. The Scriptures frequently use
the words "all," "none," in a comparative sense--and so in this case.
There would be many a house in which there would be no child, and many
in which the first-born might be already dead. What is to be understood
is, that almost every house in Egypt had a death in it.
31. called for Moses and Aaron--a striking fulfilment of the words of
Moses (Ex 11:8), and showing that they were spoken under divine
suggestion.
32. also take your flocks, &c.--All the terms the king had formerly
insisted on were now departed from; his pride had been effectually
humbled. Appalling judgments in such rapid succession showed plainly
that the hand of God was against him. His own family bereavement had so
crushed him to the earth that he not only showed impatience to rid his
kingdom of such formidable neighbors, but even begged an interest in
their prayers.
34. people took ... their kneading-troughs--Having lived so long in
Egypt, they must have been in the habit of using the utensils common in
that country. The Egyptian kneading-trough was a bowl of wicker or rush
work, and it admitted of being hastily wrapped up with the dough in it
and slung over the shoulder in their hykes or loose upper garments.
35. children of Israel borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver--When
the Orientals go to their sacred festivals, they always put on their
best jewels. The Israelites themselves thought they were only going
three days' journey to hold a feast unto the Lord, and in these
circumstances it would be easy for them to borrow what was necessary
for a sacred festival. But borrow conveys a wrong meaning. The word
rendered borrow signifies properly to ask, demand, require. The
Israelites had been kept in great poverty, having received little or no
wages. They now insisted on full remuneration for all their labor, and
it was paid in light and valuable articles adapted for convenient
carriage.
36. the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians--Such
a dread of them was inspired into the universal minds of the Egyptians,
that whatever they asked was readily given.
spoiled the Egyptians--The accumulated earnings of many years being
paid them at this moment, the Israelites were suddenly enriched,
according to the promise made to Abraham (Ge 15:14), and they left the
country like a victorious army laden with spoil (Ps 105:37; Eze 39:10).
37. The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses--now generally
identified with the ancient Heroopolis, and fixed at the modern
Abu-Keisheid. This position agrees with the statement that the scene of
the miraculous judgments against Pharaoh was "in the field of Zoan" [Ps
78:12, 43]. And it is probable that, in expectation of their departure,
which the king on one pretext or another delayed, the Israelites had
been assembled there as a general rendezvous. In journeying from
Rameses to Palestine, there was a choice of two routes--the one along
the shores of the Mediterranean to El-Arish, the other more circuitous
round the head of the Red Sea and the desert of Sinai. The latter Moses
was directed to take (Ex 13:17).
to Succoth--that is, booths, probably nothing more than a place of
temporary encampment. The Hebrew word signifies a covering or shelter
formed by the boughs of trees; and hence, in memory of this lodgment,
the Israelites kept the feast of tabernacles yearly in this manner.
six hundred thousand ... men--It appears from Nu 1:3 that the
enumeration is of men above twenty years of age. Assuming, what is now
ascertained by statistical tables, that the number of males above that
age is as nearly as possible the half of the total number of males, the
whole male population of Israel, on this computation, would amount to
1,200,000; and adding an equal number for women and children, the
aggregate number of Israelites who left Egypt would be 2,400,000.
38. a mixed multitude went with them--literally, "a great rabble" (see
also Nu 11:4; De 29:11); slaves, persons in the lowest grades of
society, partly natives and partly foreigners, bound close to them as
companions in misery, and gladly availing themselves of the opportunity
to escape in the crowd. (Compare Zec 8:23).
40. the sojourning of the children of Israel ... four hundred and
thirty years--The Septuagint renders it thus: "The sojourning of the
children and of their fathers, which they sojourned in the land of
Canaan and in the land of Egypt." These additions are important, for
the period of sojourn in Egypt did not exceed two hundred fifteen
years; but if we reckon from the time that Abraham entered Canaan and
the promise was made in which the sojourn of his posterity in Egypt was
announced, this makes up the time to four hundred thirty years.
41. even the selfsame day--implying an exact and literal fulfilment of
the predicted period.
49. One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the
stranger--This regulation displays the liberal spirit of the Hebrew
institutions. Any foreigner might obtain admission to the privileges of
the nation on complying with their sacred ordinances. In the Mosaic
equally as in the Christian dispensation, privilege and duty were
inseparably conjoined.
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CHAPTER 13
Ex 13:1, 2. The First-born Sanctified.
2. Sanctify unto me all the first-born--To "sanctify" means to
"consecrate," to "set apart" from a common to a sacred use. The
foundation of this duty rested on the fact that the Israelites, having
had their first-born preserved by a distinguishing act of grace from
the general destruction that overtook the families of the Egyptians,
were bound in token of gratitude to consider them as the Lord's
peculiar property (compare Heb 12:23).
Ex 13:3-10. Memorial of the Passover.
3. Moses said unto the people, Remember this day--The day that gave
them a national existence and introduced them into the privileges of
independence and freedom, deserved to live in the memories of the
Hebrews and their posterity; and, considering the signal interposition
of God displayed in it, to be held not only in perpetual, but devout
remembrance.
house of bondage--literally, "house of slaves"--that is, a servile and
degrading condition.
for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place--The
emancipation of Israel would never have been obtained except it had
been wrung from the Egyptian tyrant by the appalling judgments of God,
as had been at the outset of his mission announced to Moses (Ex 3:19).
There shall no leavened bread, &c.--The words are elliptical, and the
meaning of the clause may be paraphrased thus:--"For by strength of
hand the Lord brought you out from this place, in such haste that there
could or should be no leavened bread eaten."
4. month Abib--literally, "a green ear," and hence the month Abib is
the month of green ears, corresponding to the middle of our March. It
was the best season for undertaking a journey to the desert region of
Sinai, especially with flocks and herds; for then the winter torrents
had subsided, and the wadies were covered with an early and luxuriant
verdure.
5-7. when the Lord shall bring thee--The passover is here instituted as
a permanent festival of the Israelites. It was, however, only a
prospective observance; we read of only one celebration of the passover
during the protracted sojourn in the wilderness [Nu 9:5]; but on their
settlement in the promised land, the season was hallowed as a sacred
anniversary [Jos 5:10], in conformity with the directions here given.
8. thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying--The establishment of
this and the other sacred festivals presented the best opportunities of
instructing the young in a knowledge of His gracious doings to their
ancestors in Egypt.
9. it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, &c.--There is no
reason to believe that the Oriental tattooing--the custom of staining
the hands with the powder of Hennah, as Eastern females now do--is here
referred to. Nor is it probable that either this practice or the
phylacteries of the Pharisees--parchment scrolls, which were worn on
their wrists and foreheads--had so early an existence. The words are to
be considered only as a figurative mode of expression.
that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth, &c.--that is, that it may be
the subject of frequent conversation and familiar knowledge among the
people.
Ex 13:11-16. Firstlings of Beasts.
12, 13. every firstling, &c.--the injunction respecting the
consecration of the first-born, as here repeated, with some additional
circumstances. The firstlings of clean beasts, such as lambs, kids, and
calves, if males, were to be devoted to God and employed in sacrifice.
Those unclean beasts, as the ass's colt, being unfit for sacrifice,
were to be redeemed (Nu 18:15).
Ex 13:17-21. Journey from Egypt.
17. God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines,
although that was near, &c.--The shortest and most direct route from
Egypt to Palestine was the usual caravan road that leads by Belbeis,
El-Arish, to Ascalon and Gaza. The Philistines, who then possessed the
latter, would have been sure to dispute their passage, for between them
and the Israelites there was a hereditary feud (1Ch 7:21, 22); and so
early a commencement of hostilities would have discouraged or dismayed
the unwarlike band which Moses led. Their faith was to be exercised and
strengthened, and from the commencement of their travels we observe the
same careful proportion of burdens and trials to their character and
state, as the gracious Lord shows to His people still in that spiritual
journey of which the former was typical.
18. God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the
Red Sea, &c.--This wondrous expanse of water is a gulf of the Indian
ocean. It was called in Hebrew "the weedy sea," from the forest of
marine plants with which it abounds. But the name of the Red Sea is not
so easily traced. Some think it was given from its contiguity to the
countries of Edom ("red"); others derive it from its coral rocks; while
a third class ascribe the origin of the name to an extremely red
appearance of the water in some parts, caused by a numberless multitude
of very small mollusca. This sea, at its northern extremity, separates
into two smaller inlets--the eastern called anciently the Elanitic
gulf, now the gulf of Akaba; and the western the Heroopolite gulf, now
the gulf of Suez, which, there can be no doubt, extended much more to
the north anciently than it does now. It was toward the latter the
Israelites marched.
went up harnessed--that is, girded, equipped for a long journey. (See
Ps 105:37). The Margin renders it "five in a rank," meaning obviously
five large divisions, under five presiding officers, according to the
usages of all caravans; and a spectacle of such a mighty and motley
multitude must have presented an imposing appearance, and its orderly
progress could have been effected only by the superintending influence
of God.
19. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him--in fulfilment of the oath
he exacted from his brethren (Ge 50:25, 26). The remains of the other
patriarchs (not noticed from their obscurity) were also carried out of
Egypt (Ac 7:15, 16); and there would be no difficulty as to the means
of conveyance--a few camels bearing these precious relics would give a
true picture of Oriental customs, such as is still to be seen in the
immense pilgrimages to Mecca.
20. encamped in Etham--This place is supposed by the most intelligent
travellers to be the modern Ajrud, where is a watering-place, and which
is the third stage of the pilgrim-caravans to Mecca. "It is remarkable
that either of the different routes eastward from Heliopolis, or
southward from Heroopolis, equally admit of Ajrud being Etham. It is
twelve miles northwest from Suez, and is literally on the edge of the
desert" [Pictorial Bible].
21, 22. the Lord went before them--by a visible token of His presence,
the Shekinah, in a majestic cloud (Ps 78:14; Ne 9:12; 1Co 10:1), called
"the angel of God" (Ex 14:19; 23:20-23; Ps 99:6, 7; Isa 63:8, 9).
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 14
Ex 14:1-31. God Instructs the Israelites as to Their Journey.
2. Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp--The
Israelites had now completed their three days' journey, and at Etham
the decisive step would have to be taken whether they would celebrate
their intended feast and return, or march onwards by the head of the
Red Sea into the desert, with a view to a final departure. They were
already on the borders of the desert, and a short march would have
placed them beyond the reach of pursuit, as the chariots of Egypt could
have made little progress over dry and yielding sand. But at Etham,
instead of pursuing their journey eastward with the sea on their right,
they were suddenly commanded to diverge to the south, keeping the gulf
on their left; a route which not only detained them lingering on the
confines of Egypt, but, in adopting it, they actually turned their
backs on the land of which they had set out to obtain the possession. A
movement so unexpected, and of which the ultimate design was carefully
concealed, could not but excite the astonishment of all, even of Moses
himself, although, from his implicit faith in the wisdom and power of
his heavenly Guide, he obeyed. The object was to entice Pharaoh to
pursue, in order that the moral effect, which the judgments on Egypt
had produced in releasing God's people from bondage, might be still
further extended over the nations by the awful events transacted at the
Red Sea.
Pi-hahiroth--the mouth of the defile, or pass--a description well
suited to that of Bedea, which extended from the Nile and opens on the
shore of the Red Sea.
Migdol--a fortress or citadel.
Baal-zephon--some marked site on the opposite or eastern coast.
3. the wilderness hath shut them in--Pharaoh, who would eagerly watch
their movements, was now satisfied that they were meditating flight,
and he naturally thought from the error into which they appeared to
have fallen by entering that defile, he could intercept them. He
believed them now entirely in his power, the mountain chain being on
one side, the sea on the other, so that, if he pursued them in the
rear, escape seemed impossible.
5. the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the
people, &c.--Alas, how soon the obduracy of this reprobate king
reappears! He had been convinced, but not converted--overawed, but not
sanctified by the appalling judgments of heaven. He bitterly repented
of what he now thought a hasty concession. Pride and revenge, the honor
of his kingdom, and the interests of his subjects, all prompted him to
recall his permission to reclaim those runaway slaves and force them to
their wonted labor. Strange that he should yet allow such
considerations to obliterate or outweigh all his painful experience of
the danger of oppressing that people. But those whom the Lord has
doomed to destruction are first infatuated by sin.
6, 7. he made ready his chariot--His preparations for an immediate and
hot pursuit are here described: A difference is made between "the
chosen chariots" and "the chariots of Egypt." The first evidently
composed the king's guard, amounting to six hundred, and they are
called "chosen," literally, "third men"; three men being allotted to
each chariot, the charioteer and two warriors. As to "the chariots of
Egypt," the common cars contained only two persons, one for driving and
the other for fighting; sometimes only one person was in the chariot,
the driver lashed the reins round his body and fought; infantry being
totally unsuitable for a rapid pursuit, and the Egyptians having had no
cavalry, the word "riders" is in the grammatical connection applied to
war chariots employed, and these were of light construction, open
behind, and hung on small wheels.
10. when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their
eyes--The great consternation of the Israelites is somewhat
astonishing, considering their vast superiority in numbers, but their
deep dismay and absolute despair at the sight of this armed host
receives a satisfactory explanation from the fact that the civilized
state of Egyptian society required the absence of all arms, except when
they were on service. If the Israelites were entirely unarmed at their
departure, they could not think of making any resistance [Wilkinson and
Hengstenberg].
13, 14. Moses said, ... Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation
of the Lord--Never, perhaps, was the fortitude of a man so severely
tried as that of the Hebrew leader in this crisis, exposed as he was to
various and inevitable dangers, the most formidable of which was the
vengeance of a seditious and desperate multitude; but his meek,
unruffled, magnanimous composure presents one of the sublimest examples
of moral courage to be found in history. And whence did his courage
arise? He saw the miraculous cloud still accompanying them, and his
confidence arose solely from the hope of a divine interposition,
although, perhaps, he might have looked for the expected deliverance in
every quarter, rather than in the direction of the sea.
15-18. the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me?
&c.--When in answer to his prayers, he received the divine command to
go forward, he no longer doubted by what kind of miracle the salvation
of his mighty charge was to be effected.
19. the angel of God--that is, the pillar of cloud [see on Ex 13:21].
The slow and silent movement of that majestic column through the air,
and occupying a position behind them must have excited the astonishment
of the Israelites (Isa 58:8). It was an effectual barrier between them
and their pursuers, not only protecting them, but concealing their
movements. Thus, the same cloud produced light (a symbol of favor) to
the people of God, and darkness (a symbol of wrath) to their enemies
(compare 2Co 2:16).
21. Moses stretched out his hand, &c.--The waving of the rod was of
great importance on this occasion to give public attestation in the
presence of the assembled Israelites, both to the character of Moses
and the divine mission with which he was charged.
the Lord caused ... a strong east wind all that night--Suppose a mere
ebb tide caused by the wind, raising the water to a great height on one
side, still as there was not only "dry land," but, according to the
tenor of the sacred narrative, a wall on the right hand and on the left
[Ex 14:22], it would be impossible on the hypothesis of such a natural
cause to rear the wall on the other. The idea of divine interposition,
therefore, is imperative; and, assuming the passage to have been made
at Mount Attakah, or at the mouth of Wady Tawarik, an east wind would
cut the sea in that line. The Hebrew word kedem, however, rendered in
our translation, "east," means, in its primary signification, previous;
so that this verse might, perhaps, be rendered, "the Lord caused the
sea to go back by a strong previous wind all that night"; a rendering
which would remove the difficulty of supposing the host of Israel
marched over on the sand, in the teeth of a rushing column of wind,
strong enough to heap up the waters as a wall on each side of a dry
path, and give the intelligible narrative of divine interference.
22. the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea, &c.--It is
highly probable that Moses, along with Aaron, first planted his
footsteps on the untrodden sand, encouraging the people to follow him
without fear of the treacherous walls; and when we take into account
the multitudes that followed him, the immense number who through
infancy and old age were incapable of hastening their movements,
together with all the appurtenances of the camp, the strong and
steadfast character of the leaders' faith was strikingly manifested
(Jos 2:10; 4:23; Ps 66:6; 74:13; 106:9; 136:13; Isa 63:11-13; 1Co 10:1;
Heb 11:29).
23. the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the
sea--From the darkness caused by the intercepting cloud, it is probable
that they were not aware on what ground they were driving: they heard
the sound of the fugitives before them, and they pushed on with the
fury of the avengers of blood, without dreaming that they were on the
bared bed of the sea.
24, 25. Lord looked ... through ... the cloud, and troubled them--We
suppose the fact to have been that the side of the pillar of cloud
towards the Egyptians was suddenly, and for a few moments, illuminated
with a blaze of light, which, coming as it were in a refulgent flash
upon the dense darkness which had preceded, so frightened the horses of
the pursuers that they rushed confusedly together and became
unmanageable. "Let us flee," was the cry that resounded through the
broken and trembling ranks, but it was too late; all attempts at flight
were vain [Bush].
27. Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, &c.--What
circumstances could more clearly demonstrate the miraculous character
of this transaction than that at the waving of Moses' rod, the dividing
waters left the channel dry, and on his making the same motion on the
opposite side, they returned, commingling with instantaneous fury? Is
such the character of any ebb tide?
28. there remained not so much as one of them--It is surprising that,
with such a declaration, some intelligent writers can maintain there is
no evidence of the destruction of Pharaoh himself (Ps 106:11).
30. Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore, &c.--The tide
threw them up and left multitudes of corpses on the beach; a result
that brought greater infamy on the Egyptians, but that tended, on the
other hand, to enhance the triumph of the Israelites, and doubtless
enriched them with arms, which they had not before. The locality of
this famous passage has not yet been, and probably never will be,
satisfactorily fixed. Some place it in the immediate neighborhood of
Suez; where, they say, the part of the sea is most likely to be
affected by "a strong east wind" [Ex 14:21]; where the road from the
defile of Migdol (now Muktala) leads directly to this point; and where
the sea, not above two miles broad, could be crossed in a short time.
The vast majority, however, who have examined the spot, reject this
opinion, and fix the passage, as does local tradition, about ten or
twelve miles further down the shore at Wady Tawarik. "The time of the
miracle was the whole night, at the season of the year, too, when the
night would be about its average length. The sea at that point extends
from six and a half to eight miles in breadth. There was thus ample
time for the passage of the Israelites from any part of the valley,
especially considering their excitement and animation by the gracious
and wonderful interposition of Providence in their behalf" [Wilson].
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CHAPTER 15
Ex 15:1-27. Song of Moses.
1. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel--The scene of this
thanksgiving song is supposed to have been at the landing place on the
eastern shore of the Red Sea, at Ayoun Musa, "the fountains of Moses."
They are situated somewhat farther northward along the shore than the
opposite point from which the Israelites set out. But the line of the
people would be extended during the passage, and one extremity of it
would reach as far north as these fountains, which would supply them
with water on landing. The time when it was sung is supposed to have
been the morning after the passage. This song is, by some hundred
years, the oldest poem in the world. There is a sublimity and beauty in
the language that is unexampled. But its unrivalled superiority arises
not solely from the splendor of the diction. Its poetical excellencies
have often drawn forth the admiration of the best judges, while the
character of the event commemorated, and its being prompted by divine
inspiration, contribute to give it an interest and sublimity peculiar
to itself.
I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed
gloriously--Considering the state of servitude in which they had been
born and bred, and the rude features of character which their
subsequent history often displays, it cannot be supposed that the
children of Israel generally were qualified to commit to memory or to
appreciate the beauties of this inimitable song. But they might
perfectly understand its pervading strain of sentiment; and, with the
view of suitably improving the occasion, it was thought necessary that
all, old and young, should join their united voices in the rehearsal of
its words. As every individual had cause, so every individual gave
utterance to his feelings of gratitude.
20. Miriam the prophetess--so called from her receiving divine
revelations (Nu 12:1; Mic 6:4), but in this instance principally from
her being eminently skilled in music, and in this sense the word
"prophecy" is sometimes used in Scripture (1Ch 25:1; 1Co 11:5).
took a timbrel--or "tabret"--a musical instrument in the form of a
hoop, edged round with rings or pieces of brass to make a jingling
noise and covered over with tightened parchment like a drum. It was
beat with the fingers, and corresponds to our tambourine.
all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances--We
shall understand this by attending to the modern customs of the East,
where the dance--a slow, grave, and solemn gesture, generally
accompanied with singing and the sound of the timbrel, is still led by
the principal female of the company, the rest imitating her movements
and repeating the words of the song as they drop from her lips.
21. Miriam answered them--"them" in the Hebrew is masculine, so that
Moses probably led the men and Miriam the women--the two bands
responding alternately, and singing the first verse as a chorus.
22. wilderness of Shur--comprehending all the western part of
Arabia-Petræa. The desert of Etham was a part of it, extending round
the northern portion of the Red Sea, and a considerable distance along
its eastern shore; whereas the "wilderness of Shur" (now Sudhr) was the
designation of all the desert region of Arabia-Petræa that lay next to
Palestine.
23. when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the
waters--Following the general route of all travellers southward,
between the sea and the tableland of the Tih ("valley of wandering"),
Marah is almost universally believed to be what is now called Howarah,
in Wady Amarah, about thirty miles from the place where the Israelites
landed on the eastern shore of the Red Sea--a distance quite sufficient
for their march of three days. There is no other perennial spring in
the intermediate space. The water still retains its ancient character,
and has a bad name among the Arabs, who seldom allow their camels to
partake of it.
25. the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters,
the waters were made sweet--Some travellers have pronounced this to be
the Elvah of the Arabs--a shrub in form and flower resembling our
hawthorn; others, the berries of the Ghurkhud--a bush found growing
around all brackish fountains. But neither of these shrubs are known by
the natives to possess such natural virtues. It is far more likely that
God miraculously endowed some tree with the property of purifying the
bitter water--a tree employed as the medium, but the sweetening was not
dependent upon the nature or quality of the tree, but the power of God
(compare Joh 9:6). And hence the "statute and ordinance" that followed,
which would have been singularly inopportune if no miracle had been
wrought.
and there he proved them--God now brought the Israelites into
circumstances which would put their faith and obedience to the test
(compare Ge 22:1).
27. they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water--supposed to be
what is now called Wady-Ghurandel, the most extensive watercourse in
the western desert--an oasis, adorned with a great variety of trees,
among which the palm is still conspicuous, and fertilized by a copious
stream. It is estimated to be a mile in breadth, but stretching out far
to the northeast. After the weary travel through the desert, this must
have appeared a most delightful encampment from its shade and verdure,
as well as from its abundant supply of sweet water for the thirsty
multitude. The palm is called "the tree of the desert," as its presence
is always a sign of water. The palms in this spot are greatly increased
in number, but the wells are diminished.
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CHAPTER 16
Ex 16:1-36. Murmurs for Want of Bread.
1. they took their journey from Elim--where they had remained several
days.
came unto the wilderness of Sin--It appears from Nu 32:1-42, that
several stations are omitted in this historical notice of the journey.
This passage represents the Israelites as advanced into the great
plain, which, beginning near El-Murkah, extends with a greater or less
breadth to almost the extremity of the peninsula. In its broadest part
northward of Tur it is called El-Kaa, which is probably the desert of
Sin [Robinson].
2. the whole congregation ... murmured against Moses and Aaron--Modern
travellers through the desert of Sinai are accustomed to take as much
as is sufficient for the sustenance of men and beasts during forty
days. The Israelites having been rather more than a month on their
journey, their store of corn or other provisions was altogether or
nearly exhausted; and there being no prospect of procuring any means of
subsistence in the desert, except some wild olives and wild honey (De
32:13), loud complaints were made against the leaders.
3. Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of
Egypt--How unreasonable and absurd the charge against Moses and Aaron!
how ungrateful and impious against God! After all their experience of
the divine wisdom, goodness, and power, we pause and wonder over the
sacred narrative of their hardness and unbelief. But the expression of
feeling is contagious in so vast a multitude, and there is a feeling of
solitude and despondency in the desert which numbers cannot dispel; and
besides, we must remember that they were men engrossed with the
present--that the Comforter was not then given--and that they were
destitute of all visible means of sustenance and cut off from every
visible comfort, with only the promises of an unseen God to look to as
the ground of their hope. And though we may lament they should tempt
God in the wilderness and freely admit their sin in so doing, we can be
at no loss for a reason why those who had all their lives been
accustomed to walk by sight should, in circumstances of unparalleled
difficulty and perplexity, find it hard to walk by faith. Do not even
we find it difficult to walk by faith through the wilderness of this
world, though in the light of a clearer revelation, and under a nobler
leader than Moses? [Fisk]. (See 1Co 10:11, 12).
4. Then said the Lord unto Moses--Though the outbreak was immediately
against the human leaders, it was indirectly against God: yet mark His
patience, and how graciously He promised to redress the grievance.
I will rain bread from heaven--Israel, a type of the Church which is
from above, and being under the conduct, government, and laws of
heaven, received their food from heaven also (Ps 78:24).
that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no--The
grand object of their being led into the wilderness was that they might
receive a religious training directly under the eye of God; and the
first lesson taught them was a constant dependence on God for their
daily nourishment.
13-31. at even the quails came up, and covered the camp--This bird is
of the gallinaceous kind [that is, relating to the order of
heavy-bodied, largely terrestrial birds], resembling the red partridge,
but not larger than the turtledove. They are found in certain seasons
in the places through which the Israelites passed, being migratory
birds, and they were probably brought to the camp by "a wind from the
Lord" as on another occasion (Nu 11:31).
and in the morning ... a small round thing ... manna--There is a gum of
the same name distilled in this desert region from the tamarisk, which
is much prized by the natives, and preserved carefully by those who
gather it. It is collected early in the morning, melts under the heat
of the sun, and is congealed by the cold of night. In taste it is as
sweet as honey, and has been supposed by distinguished travellers, from
its whitish color, time, and place of its appearance, to be the manna
on which the Israelites were fed: so that, according to the views of
some, it was a production indigenous to the desert; according to
others, there was a miracle, which consisted, however, only in the
preternatural arrangements regarding its supply. But more recent and
accurate examination has proved this gum of the tarfa-tree to be
wanting in all the principal characteristics of the Scripture manna. It
exudes only in small quantities, and not every year; it does not admit
of being baked (Nu 11:8) or boiled (Ex 16:23). Though it may be exhaled
by the heat and afterwards fall with the dew, it is a medicine, not
food--it is well known to the natives of the desert, while the
Israelites were strangers to theirs; and in taste as well as in the
appearance of double quantity on Friday, none on Sabbath, and in not
breeding worms, it is essentially different from the manna furnished to
the Israelites.
32-36. Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations--The mere
fact of such a multitude being fed for forty years in the wilderness,
where no food of any kind is to be obtained, will show the utter
impossibility of their subsisting on a natural production of the kind
and quantity as this tarfa-gum [see on Ex 16:13]; and, as if for the
purpose of removing all such groundless speculations, Aaron was
commanded to put a sample of it in a pot--a golden pot (Heb 9:4)--to be
laid before the Testimony, to be kept for future generations, that they
might see the bread on which the Lord fed their fathers in the
wilderness. But we have the bread of which that was merely typical (1Co
10:3; Joh 6:32).
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CHAPTER 17
Ex 17:1-7. The People Murmur for Water.
1. the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin--In the
succinct annals of this book, those places only are selected for
particular notice by the inspired historian, which were scenes
memorable for their happy or painful interest in the history of the
Israelites. A more detailed itinerary is given in the later books of
Moses, and we find that here two stations are omitted (Nu 33:1-56).
according to the commandment of the Lord, &c.--not given in oracular
response, nor a vision of the night, but indicated by the movement of
the cloudy pillar. The same phraseology occurs elsewhere (Nu 9:18, 19).
pitched in Rephidim--now believed, on good grounds, to be Wady Feiran,
which is exactly a day's march from Mount Sinai, and at the entrance of
the Horeb district. It is a long circuitous defile about forty feet in
breadth, with perpendicular granite rocks on both sides. The wilderness
of Sin through which they approached to this valley is very barren, has
an extremely dry and thirsty aspect, little or no water, scarcely even
a dwarfish shrub to be seen, and the only shelter to the panting
pilgrims is under the shadow of the great overhanging cliffs.
2, 3. the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we
may drink, &c.--The want of water was a privation, the severity of
which we cannot estimate, and it was a great trial to the Israelites,
but their conduct on this new occasion was outrageous; it amounted even
to "a tempting of the Lord." It was an opposition to His minister, a
distrust of His care, an indifference to His kindness, an unbelief in
His providence, a trying of His patience and fatherly forbearance.
4. Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this
people?--His language, instead of betraying any signs of resentment or
vindictive imprecation on a people who had given him a cruel and
unmerited treatment, was the expression of an anxious wish to know what
was the best to be done in the circumstances (compare Mt 5:44; Ro
12:21).
5. the Lord said unto Moses, &c.--not to smite the rebels, but the
rock; not to bring a stream of blood from the breast of the offenders,
but a stream of water from the granite cliffs. The cloud rested on a
particular rock, just as the star rested on the house where the infant
Saviour was lodged [Mt 2:9]. And from the rod-smitten rock there
forthwith gushed a current of pure and refreshing water. It was perhaps
the greatest miracle performed by Moses, and in many respects bore a
resemblance to the greatest of Christ's: being done without ostentation
and in the presence of a few chosen witnesses (1Co 10:4).
7. called the name of the place--Massah ("temptation"); Meribah
("chiding," "strife"): the same word which is rendered "provocation"
(Heb 3:8).
Ex 17:8-16. Attack of Amalek.
8. Then came Amalek--Some time probably elapsed before they were
exposed to this new evil; and the presumption of there being such an
interval affords the only ground on which we can satisfactorily account
for the altered, the better, and former spirit that animated the people
in this sudden contest. The miracles of the manna and the water from
the rock had produced a deep impression and permanent conviction that
God was indeed among them; and with feelings elevated by the conscious
experience of the Divine Presence and aid, they remained calm,
resolute, and courageous under the attack of their unexpected foe.
fought with Israel--The language implies that no occasion had been
furnished for this attack; but, as descendants of Esau, the Amalekites
entertained a deep-seated grudge against them, especially as the rapid
prosperity and marvellous experience of Israel showed that the blessing
contained in the birthright was taking effect. It seems to have been a
mean, dastardly, insidious surprise on the rear (Nu 24:20; De 25:17),
and an impious defiance of God.
9. Moses said unto Joshua--or, "Jesus" (Ac 7:45; Heb 4:8). This is the
earliest notice of a young warrior destined to act a prominent part in
the history of Israel. He went with a number of picked men. There is
not here a wide open plain on which the battle took place, as according
to the rules of modern warfare. The Amalekites were a nomadic tribe,
making an irregular attack on a multitude probably not better trained
than themselves, and for such a conflict the low hills and open country
around this wady would afford ample space [Robinson].
10-12. Moses ... went up ... the hill ... held up his hand--with the
wonder-working rod; Moses acted as the standard bearer of Israel, and
also their intercessor, praying for success and victory to crown their
arms--the earnestness of his feelings being conspicuously evinced amid
the feebleness of nature.
13. Joshua discomfited Amalek--Victory at length decided in favor of
Israel, and the glory of the victory, by an act of national piety, was
ascribed to God (compare 1Jo 5:4).
14-16. Write this for a memorial--If the bloody character of this
statute seems to be at variance with the mild and merciful character of
God, the reasons are to be sought in the deep and implacable vengeance
they meditated against Israel (Ps 83:4).
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CHAPTER 18
Ex 18:1-27. Visit of Jethro.
1-5. Jethro ... came ... unto Moses, &c.--It is thought by many eminent
commentators that this episode is inserted out of its chronological
order, for it is described as occurring when the Israelites were
"encamped at the mount of God." And yet they did not reach it till the
third month after their departure from Egypt (Ex 19:1, 2; compare De
1:6, 9-15).
6. and thy wife, and her two sons--See Ex 4:20.
7. Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, &c.--Their salutations
would be marked by all the warm and social greetings of Oriental
friends (see on Ex 4:27)--the one going out to "meet" the other, the
"obeisance," the "kiss" on each side of the head, the silent entrance
into the tent for consultation; and their conversation ran in the
strain that might have been expected of two pious men, rehearsing and
listening to a narrative of the wonderful works and providence of God.
12. Jethro ... took a burnt offering--This friendly interview was
terminated by a solemn religious service--the burnt offerings were
consumed on the altar, and the sacrifices were peace offerings, used in
a feast of joy and gratitude at which Jethro, as priest of the true
God, seems to have presided, and to which the chiefs of Israel were
invited. This incident is in beautiful keeping with the character of
the parties, and is well worthy of the imitation of Christian friends
when they meet in the present day.
13-26. on the morrow ... Moses sat to judge the people, &c.--We are
here presented with a specimen of his daily morning occupations; and
among the multifarious duties his divine legation imposed, it must be
considered only a small portion of his official employments. He appears
in this attitude as a type of Christ in His legislative and judicial
characters.
the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening,
&c.--Governors in the East seat themselves at the most public gate of
their palace or the city, and there, amid a crowd of applicants, hear
causes, receive petitions, redress grievances, and adjust the claims of
contending parties.
17. Moses' father-in-law said unto him, The thing ... is not good--not
good either for Moses himself, for the maintenance of justice, or for
the satisfaction and interests of the people. Jethro gave a prudent
counsel as to the division of labor [Ex 18:21, 22], and universal
experience in the Church and State has attested the soundness and
advantages of the principle.
23. If thou shalt do this thing, &c.--Jethro's counsel was given merely
in the form of a suggestion; it was not to be adopted without the
express sanction and approval of a better and higher Counsellor; and
although we are not informed of it, there can be no doubt that Moses,
before appointing subordinate magistrates, would ask the mind of God,
as it is the duty and privilege of every Christian in like manner to
supplicate the divine direction in all his ways.
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CHAPTER 19
Ex 19:1-25. Arrival at Sinai.
1. In the third month--according to Jewish usage, the first day of that
month--"same day."--It is added, to mark the time more explicitly, that
is, forty-five days after Egypt--one day spent on the mount (Ex 19:3),
one returning the people's answer (Ex 19:7, 8), three days of
preparation, making the whole time fifty days from the first passover
to the promulgation of the law. Hence the feast of pentecost, that is,
the fiftieth day, was the inauguration of the Old Testament church, and
the divine wisdom is apparent in the selection of the same reason for
the institution of the New Testament church (Joh 1:17; Ac 2:1).
2. were come to the desert of Sinai--The desert has its provinces, or
divisions, distinguished by a variety of names; and the "desert of
Sinai" is that wild and desolate region which occupies the very center
of the peninsula, comprising the lofty range to which the mount of God
belongs. It is a wilderness of shaggy rocks of porphyry and red
granite, and of valleys for the most part bare of verdure.
and there Israel camped before the mount--Sinai, so called from Seneh,
or acacia bush. It is now called Jebel Musa. Their way into the
interior of the gigantic cluster was by Wady Feiran, which would lead
the bulk of the hosts with their flocks and herds into the high valleys
of Jebel Musa, with their abundant springs, especially into the great
thoroughfare of the desert--the longest, widest, and most continuous of
all the valleys, the Wady-es-Sheikh, while many would be scattered
among the adjacent valleys; so that thus secluded from the world in a
wild and sublime amphitheatre of rocks, they "camped before the mount."
"In this valley--a long flat valley--about a quarter of a mile in
breadth, winding northwards, Israel would find ample room for their
encampment. Of all the wadys in that region, it seems the most suitable
for a prolonged sojourn. The 'goodly tents' of Israel could spread
themselves without limit" [Bonar].
3-6. Moses went up unto God--the Shekinah--within the cloud (Ex 33:20;
Joh 1:18).
Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, &c.--The object for which
Moses went up was to receive and convey to the people the message
contained in these verses, and the purport of which was a general
announcement of the terms on which God was to take the Israelites into
a close and peculiar relation to Himself. In thus negotiating between
God and His people, the highest post of duty which any mortal man was
ever called to occupy, Moses was still but a servant. The only Mediator
is Jesus Christ [1Ti 2:5; Heb 12:24].
6. ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests--As the priestly order was
set apart from the common mass, so the Israelites, compared with other
people, were to sustain the same near relation to God; a community of
spiritual sovreigns.
an holy nation--set apart to preserve the knowledge and worship of God.
7, 8. Moses came and called for the elders of the people--The message
was conveyed to the mighty multitude through their elders, who,
doubtless, instructed them in the conditions required. Their unanimous
acceptance was conveyed through the same channel to Moses, and by him
reported to the Lord. Ah! how much self-confidence did their language
betray! How little did they know what spirit they were of!
9-15. The Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come ... in a thick cloud,
&c.--The deepest impressions are made on the mind through the medium of
the senses; and so He who knew what was in man signalized His descent
at the inauguration of the ancient church, by all the sensible tokens
of august majesty that were fitted to produce the conviction that He is
the great and terrible God. The whole multitude must have anticipated
the event with feelings of intense solemnity and awe. The extraordinary
preparations enjoined, the ablutions and rigid abstinence they were
required to observe, the barriers erected all round the base of the
mount, and the stern penalties annexed to the breach of any of the
conditions, all tended to create an earnest and solemn expectation
which increased as the appointed day drew near.
16. on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and
lightnings, &c.--The descent of God was signalized by every object
imagination can conceive connected with the ideas of grandeur and of
awe. But all was in keeping with the character of the law about to be
proclaimed. As the mountain burned with fire, God was exhibited as a
consuming fire to the transgressors of His law. The thunder and
lightning, more awful amid the deep stillness of the region and
reverberating with terrific peals among the mountains, would rouse the
universal attention; a thick cloud was an apt emblem of the dark and
shadowy dispensation (compare Mt 17:5).
the voice of a trumpet--This gave the scene the character of a
miraculous transaction, in which other elements than those of nature
were at work, and some other than material trumpet was blown by other
means than human breath.
17. Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with
God--Wady-er-Raheh, where they stood, has a spacious sandy plain;
immediately in front of Es Suksafeh, considered by Robinson to be the
mount from which the law was given. "We measured it, and estimate the
whole plain at two geographical miles long, and ranging in breadth from
one-third to two-thirds of a mile, or as equivalent to a surface of one
square mile. This space is nearly doubled by the recess on the west,
and by the broad and level area of Wady-es-Sheikh on the east, which
issues at right angles to the plain, and is equally in view of the
front and summit of the mount. The examination convinced us that here
was space enough to satisfy all the requisitions of the Scripture
narrative, so far as it relates to the assembling of the congregation
to receive the law. Here, too, one can see the fitness of the
injunction to set bounds around the mount, that neither man nor beast
might approach too near, for it rises like a perpendicular wall." But
Jebel Musa, the old traditional Sinai, and the highest peak, has also a
spacious valley, Wady Sebaiyeh, capable of holding the people. It is
not certain on which of these two they stood.
21. the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people--No sooner had
Moses proceeded a little up the mount, than he was suddenly ordered to
return, in order to keep the people from breaking through to gaze--a
course adopted to heighten the impressive solemnity of the scene. The
strict injunctions renewed to all, whatever their condition, at a time
and in circumstances when the whole multitude of Israel were standing
at the base of the mount, was calculated in the highest degree to
solemnize and awe every heart.
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CHAPTER 20
Ex 20:1-26. The Ten Commandments.
1. And God spake all these words--The Divine Being Himself was the
speaker (De 5:12, 32, 33), in tones so loud as to be heard--so distinct
as to be intelligible by the whole multitude standing in the valleys
below, amid the most appalling phenomena of agitated nature. Had He
been simply addressing rational and intelligent creatures, He would
have spoken with the still small voice of persuasion and love. But He
was speaking to those who were at the same time fallen and sinful
creatures, and a corresponding change was required in the manner of
God's procedure, in order to give a suitable impression of the
character and sanctions of the law revealed from heaven (Ro 11:5-9).
2. I am the Lord thy God--This is a preface to the ten
commandments--the latter clause being specially applicable to the case
of the Israelites, while the former brings it home to all mankind;
showing that the reasonableness of the law is founded in their eternal
relation as creatures to their Creator, and their mutual relations to
each other.
3. Thou shalt have no other gods before me--in My presence, beside, or
except Me.
4, 5. Thou shalt not make ... any graven image ... thou shalt not bow
down thyself to them--that is, "make in order to bow." Under the
auspices of Moses himself, figures of cherubim, brazen serpents, oxen,
and many other things in the earth beneath, were made and never
condemned. The mere making was no sin--it was the making with the
intent to give idolatrous worship.
8. Remember the sabbath day--implying it was already known, and
recognized as a season of sacred rest. The first four commandments [Ex
20:3-11] comprise our duties to God--the other six [Ex 20:12-17] our
duties to our fellow men; and as interpreted by Christ, they reach to
the government of the heart as well as the lip (Mt 5:17). "If a man do
them he shall live in them" [Le 18:5; Ne 9:29]. But, ah! what an if for
frail and fallen man. Whoever rests his hope upon the law stands debtor
to it all; and in this view every one would be without hope were not
"the Lord our Righteousness" [Jer 23:6; 33:16] (Joh 1:17).
18-21. all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings--They were
eye and ear witnesses of the awful emblems of the Deity's descent. But
they perceived not the Deity Himself.
19. let not God speak with us, lest we die, &c.--The phenomena of
thunder and lightning had been one of the plagues so fatal to Egypt,
and as they heard God speaking to them now, they were apprehensive of
instant death also. Even Moses himself, the mediator of the old
covenant, did "exceedingly quake and fear" (Heb 12:21). But doubtless
God spake what gave him relief--restored him to a frame of mind fit for
the ministrations committed to him; and hence immediately after he was
enabled to relieve and comfort them with the relief and comfort which
he himself had received from God (2Co 1:4).
22, 23. the Lord said unto Moses--It appears from De 4:14-16, that this
injunction was a conclusion drawn from the scene on Sinai--that as no
similitude of God was displayed then, they should not attempt to make
any visible figure or form of Him.
24. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me--a regulation applicable
to special or temporary occasions.
25. thou shalt not build it of hewn stone, &c.--that is, carved with
figures and ornaments that might lead to superstition.
26. by steps--a precaution taken for the sake of decency, in
consequence of the loose, wide, flowing garments of the priests.
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CHAPTER 21
Ex 21:1-6. Laws for Menservants.
1. judgments--rules for regulating the procedure of judges and
magistrates in the decision of cases and the trial of criminals. The
government of the Israelites being a theocracy, those public
authorities were the servants of the Divine Sovereign, and subject to
His direction. Most of these laws here noticed were primitive usages,
founded on principles of natural equity, and incorporated, with
modifications and improvements, in the Mosaic code.
2-6. If thou buy an Hebrew servant--Every Israelite was free-born; but
slavery was permitted under certain restrictions. An Hebrew might be
made a slave through poverty, debt, or crime; but at the end of six
years he was entitled to freedom, and his wife, if she had voluntarily
shared his state of bondage, also obtained release. Should he, however,
have married a female slave, she and the children, after the husband's
liberation, remained the master's property; and if, through attachment
to his family, the Hebrew chose to forfeit his privilege and abide as
he was, a formal process was gone through in a public court, and a
brand of servitude stamped on his ear (Ps 40:6) for life, or at least
till the Jubilee (De 15:17).
Ex 21:7-36. Laws for Maidservants.
7-11. if a man sell his daughter--Hebrew girls might be redeemed for a
reasonable sum. But in the event of her parents or friends being unable
to pay the redemption money, her owner was not at liberty to sell her
elsewhere. Should she have been betrothed to him or his son, and either
change their minds, a maintenance must be provided for her suitable to
her condition as his intended wife, or her freedom instantly granted.
23-25. eye for eye--The law which authorized retaliation (a principle
acted upon by all primitive people) was a civil one. It was given to
regulate the procedure of the public magistrate in determining the
amount of compensation in every case of injury, but did not encourage
feelings of private revenge. The later Jews, however, mistook it for a
moral precept, and were corrected by our Lord (Mt 5:38-42).
28-36. If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die--For the purpose
of sanctifying human blood, and representing all injuries affecting
life in a serious light, an animal that occasioned death was to be
killed or suffer punishment proportioned to the degree of damage it had
caused. Punishments are still inflicted on this principle in Persia and
other countries of the East; and among a rude people greater effect is
thus produced in inspiring caution, and making them keep noxious
animals under restraint, than a penalty imposed on the owners.
30. If there be laid on him a sum of money, &c.--Blood fines are common
among the Arabs as they were once general throughout the East. This is
the only case where a money compensation, instead of capital
punishment, was expressly allowed in the Mosaic law.
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CHAPTER 22
Ex 22:1-31. Laws concerning Theft.
1-4. If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep--The law respects the theft
of cattle which constituted the chief part of their property. The
penalty for the theft of a sheep which was slain or sold, was fourfold;
for an ox fivefold, because of its greater utility in labor; but,
should the stolen animal have been recovered alive, a double
compensation was all that was required, because it was presumable he
(the thief) was not a practised adept in dishonesty. A robber breaking
into a house at midnight might, in self-defense, be slain with
impunity; but if he was slain after sunrise, it would be considered
murder, for it was not thought likely an assault would then be made
upon the lives of the occupants. In every case where a thief could not
make restitution, he was sold as a slave for the usual term.
6. If fire break out, and catch in thorns--This refers to the common
practice in the East of setting fire to the dry grass before the fall
of the autumnal rains, which prevents the ravages of vermin, and is
considered a good preparation of the ground for the next crop. The very
parched state of the herbage and the long droughts of summer, make the
kindling of a fire an operation often dangerous, and always requiring
caution from its liability to spread rapidly.
stacks--or as it is rendered "shocks" (Jud 15:5; Job 5:26), means
simply a bundle of loose sheaves.
26, 27. If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge,
&c.--From the nature of the case, this is the description of a poor
man. No Orientals undress, but, merely throwing off their turbans and
some of their heavy outer garments, they sleep in the clothes which
they wear during the day. The bed of the poor is usually nothing else
than a mat; and, in winter, they cover themselves with a cloak--a
practice which forms the ground or reason of the humane and merciful
law respecting the pawned coat.
28. gods--a word which is several times in this chapter rendered
"judges" or magistrates.
the ruler of thy people--and the chief magistrate who was also the high
priest, at least in the time of Paul (Ac 23:1-5).
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CHAPTER 23
Ex 23:1-33. Laws concerning Slander, &c.
1. put not thine hand--join not hands.
2. decline--depart, deviate from the straight path of rectitude.
3. countenance--adorn, embellish--thou shalt not varnish the cause even
of a poor man to give it a better coloring than it merits.
10. six years thou shalt sow thy land--intermitting the cultivation of
the land every seventh year. But it appears that even then there was a
spontaneous produce which the poor were permitted freely to gather for
their use, and the beasts driven out fed on the remainder, the owners
of fields not being allowed to reap or collect the fruits of the
vineyard or oliveyard during the course of this sabbatical year. This
was a regulation subservient to many excellent purposes; for, besides
inculcating the general lesson of dependence on Providence, and of
confidence in His faithfulness to His promise respecting the triple
increase on the sixth year (Le 25:20, 21), it gave the Israelites a
practical proof that they held their properties of the Lord as His
tenants, and must conform to His rules on pain of forfeiting the lease
of them.
12. Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt
rest--This law is repeated [Ex 20:9] lest any might suppose there was a
relaxation of its observance during the sabbatical year.
13. make no mention of the name of other gods, &c.--that is, in common
conversation, for a familiar use of them would tend to lessen horror of
idolatry.
14-18. Three times ... keep a feast ... in the year--This was the
institution of the great religious festivals--"The feast of unleavened
bread," or the passover--"the feast of harvest," or pentecost--"the
feast of ingathering," or the feast of tabernacles, which was a
memorial of the dwelling in booths in the wilderness, and which was
observed in the seventh month (Ex 12:2). All the males were enjoined to
repair to the tabernacle and afterwards the temple, and the women
frequently went. The institution of this national custom was of the
greatest importance in many ways: by keeping up a national sense of
religion and a public uniformity in worship, by creating a bond of
unity, and also by promoting internal commerce among the people. Though
the absence of all the males at these three festivals left the country
defenseless, a special promise was given of divine protection, and no
incursion of enemies was ever permitted to happen on those occasions.
19. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk--A prohibition
against imitating the superstitious rites of the idolaters in Egypt,
who, at the end of their harvest, seethed a kid in its mother's milk
and sprinkled the broth as a magical charm on their gardens and fields,
to render them more productive the following season. [See on De 14:21].
20-25. Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the
way--The communication of these laws, made to Moses and by him
rehearsed to the people, was concluded by the addition of many
animating promises, intermingled with several solemn warnings that
lapses into sin and idolatry would not be tolerated or passed with
impunity.
21. my name is in him--This angel is frequently called Jehovah and
Elohim, that is, God.
28. I will send hornets before thee, &c. (See on Jos 24:12)--Some
instrument of divine judgment, but variously interpreted: as hornets in
a literal sense [Bochart]; as a pestilential disease [Rosenmuller]; as
a terror of the Lord, an extraordinary dejection [Junius].
29, 30. I will not drive ... out ... in one year; lest the land become
desolate--Many reasons recommend a gradual extirpation of the former
inhabitants of Canaan. But only one is here specified--the danger lest,
in the unoccupied grounds, wild beasts should inconveniently multiply;
a clear proof that the promised land was more than sufficient to
contain the actual population of the Israelites.
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CHAPTER 24
Ex 24:1-18. Delivery of the Law and Covenant.
3, 4. Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord--The
rehearsal of the foregoing laws and the ten commandments, together with
the promises of special blessings in the event of their obedience,
having drawn forth from the people a unanimous declaration of their
consent, it was forthwith recorded as the conditions of the national
covenant. The next day preparations were made for having it (the
covenant) solemnly ratified, by building an altar and twelve pillars;
the altar representing God, and the pillars the tribes of Israel--the
two parties in this solemn compact--while Moses acted as typical
mediator.
5. young men--priests (Ex 19:22), probably the oldest sons of
particular families, who acted under the direction of Moses.
oxen--Other animals, though not mentioned, were offered in sacrifice
(Heb 9:18-20).
6. Moses took half of the blood ... sprinkled--Preliminary to this was
the public reading of the law and the renewed acceptance of the terms
by the people; then the sprinkling of the blood was the sign of solemn
ratification--half on each party in the transaction.
8. Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people--probably on
the twelve pillars, as representing the people (also the book, Heb
9:19), and the act was accompanied by a public proclamation of its
import. It was setting their seal to the covenant (compare 1Co 11:25).
It must have been a deeply impressive, as well as instructive scene,
for it taught the Israelites that the covenant was made with them only
through the sprinkling of blood--that the divine acceptance of
themselves and services, was only by virtue of an atoning sacrifice,
and that even the blessings of the national covenant were promised and
secured to them only through grace. The ceremonial, however, had a
further and higher significance, as is shown by the apostle (see as
above).
9. Then went up Moses, and Aaron--in obedience to a command given (Ex
24:1, 2; also Ex 19:24), previous to the religious engagement of the
people, now described.
Nadab, and Abihu--the two oldest sons of Aaron [Ex 6:23].
seventy of the elders--a select number; what was the principle of
selection is not said; but they were the chief representatives, the
most conspicuous for official rank and station, as well as for their
probity and weight of character in their respective tribes.
10. And they saw the God of Israel--That there was no visible form or
representation of the divine nature, we have expressly intimated (De
4:15). But a symbol or emblem of His glory was distinctly, and at a
distance, displayed before those chosen witnesses. Many think, however,
that in this private scene was discovered, amid the luminous blaze, the
faint adumbrated form of the humanity of Christ (Eze 1:26; compare Ga
3:24).
sapphire--one of the most valuable and lustrous of the precious
gems--of a sky-blue or light azure color and frequently chosen to
describe the throne of God (see Eze 1:26; 10:1).
11. upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand--The
"nobles," that is, the elders, after the sprinkling of the blood, were
not inspired with terror in presence of the calm, benign, radiant
symbol of the divine majesty; so different from the terrific
exhibitions at the giving of the law. The report of so many competent
witnesses would tend to confirm the people's faith in the divine
mission of Moses.
eat and drink--feasted on the peace offering--on the remnants of the
late sacrifices and libations. This feast had a prophetic bearing,
intimating God's dwelling with men.
12. I will give thee tables of stone--The ten commandments, which had
already been spoken, were to be given in a permanent form. Inscribed on
stone, for greater durability, by the hand of God Himself, they were
thus authenticated and honored above the judicial or ceremonial parts
of the law.
13. Moses went up into the mount of God--He was called to receive the
divine transcript. Joshua was taken a little higher, and it would be a
great comfort for the leader to have his company during the six days he
was in patient waiting for the call on the seventh or sabbath day.
14. he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us--There is a circular
valley or hollow a good way up on the brow of Jebel Musa, which was
their halting place, while he alone was privileged to ascend the
highest peak. The people stood below, as in the "outer court," the
elders in the "holy place," Moses, as a type of Christ, in "the holy of
holies."
18. Moses went into the midst of the cloud--the visible token of God's
presence. Divine grace animated and supported him to enter with holy
boldness.
Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights--The six days spent
in waiting are not included. During that protracted period he was
miraculously supported (De 9:9), on a peak scarcely thirty paces in
compass.
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CHAPTER 25
Ex 25:1-40. Concerning an Offering.
1. the Lord spake unto Moses, &c.--The business that chiefly occupied
Moses on the mount, whatever other disclosures were made to him there,
was in receiving directions about the tabernacle, and they are here
recorded as given to him.
2. bring me an offering of every man that giveth it willingly,
&c.--Having declared allegiance to God as their sovereign, they were
expected to contribute to His state, as other subjects to their kings;
and the "offering" required of them was not to be imposed as a tax, but
to come from their own loyal and liberal feelings.
3. this is the offering which ye shall take of them--the articles of
which the offerings should consist.
brass--rather copper, brass being a composite metal.
4. goats' hair--or leather of goats' skin.
5. badgers' skins--The badger was an unclean animal, and is not a
native of the East--rather some kind of fish, of the leather of which
sandals are made in the East. [See on Ex 39:34 and Eze 16:10.]
shittim wood--or Shittah (Isa 41:19), the acacia, a shrub which grows
plentifully in the deserts of Arabia, yielding a light, strong, and
beautiful wood, in long planks.
7. ephod--a square cloak, hanging down from the shoulders, and worn by
priests.
8. a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them--In one sense the
tabernacle was to be a palace, the royal residence of the King of
Israel, in which He was to dwell among His people, receive their
petitions, and issue His responses. But it was also to be a place of
worship, in which God was to record His name and to enshrine the mystic
symbols of His presence.
9. According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the
tabernacle--The proposed erection could be, in the circumstances of the
Israelites, not of a fixed and stable but of a temporary and movable
description, capable of being carried about with them in their various
sojournings. It was made after "the pattern" shown to Moses, by which
is now generally understood, not that it was an unheard-of novelty, or
an entirely original structure, for it is ascertained to have borne
resemblance in form and arrangements to the style of an Egyptian
temple, but that it was so altered, modified, and purified from all
idolatrous associations, as to be appropriated to right objects, and
suggestive of ideas connected with the true God and His worship.
10. an ark--a coffer or chest, overlaid with gold, the dimensions of
which, taking the cubit at eighteen inches, are computed to be three
feet nine inches in length, two feet three inches in breadth.
11. a crown--a rim or cornice.
12. rings--staples for the poles, with which it was to be carried from
place to place.
15. staves shall be in the rings of the ark--that is, always remain in
the rings, whether the ark be at rest or in motion.
16. the testimony--that is, the two tables of stone, containing the ten
commandments, and called "the testimony," because by it God did testify
His sovereign authority over Israel as His people, His selection of
them as the guardians of His will and worship, and His displeasure in
the event of their transgressing His laws; while on their part, by
receiving and depositing this law in its appointed place, they
testified their acknowledgment of God's right to rule over them, and
their submission to the authority of His law. The superb and elaborate
style of the ark that contained "the testimony" was emblematic of the
great treasure it held; in other words, the incomparable value and
excellence of the Word of God, while its being placed in this chest
further showed the great care which God has ever taken for preserving
it.
17. thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold--to serve as a lid,
covering it exactly. It was "the propitiatory cover," as the term may
be rendered, denoting that Christ, our great propitiation [1Jo 2:2;
4:10], has fully answered all the demands of the law, covers our
transgressions, and comes between us and the curse of a violated law.
18. two cherubim--The real meaning of these figures, as well as the
shape or form of them, is not known with certainty--probably similar to
what was afterwards introduced into the temple, and described in Eze
10:8-22. They stretched out their wings, and their faces were turned
towards the mercy seat [Ex 25:20], probably in a bowing attitude. The
prevailing opinion now is, that those splendid figures were symbolical
not of angelic but of earthly and human beings--the members of the
Church of God interested in the dispensation of grace, the redeemed in
every age--and that these hieroglyphic forms symbolized the qualities
of the true people of God--courage, patience, intelligence, and
activity.
22. there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from
above the mercy seat--The Shekinah, or symbol of the Divine Presence,
rested on the mercy seat, and was indicated by a cloud, from the midst
of which responses were audibly given when God was consulted on behalf
of His people. Hence God is described as "dwelling" or "sitting"
between the cherubim.
23. table of shittim wood--of the same material and decorations as the
ark [see on Ex 25:5], and like it, too, furnished with rings for the
poles on which it was carried [Ex 25:26]. The staves, however, were
taken out of it when stationary, in order not to encumber the priests
while engaged in their services at the table. It was half a cubit less
than the ark in length and breadth, but of the same height. [See on Ex
25:10.]
24. crown--the moulding or ornamental rim, which is thought to have
been raised above the level of the table, to prevent anything from
falling off.
29. dishes--broad platters.
spoons--cups or concave vessels, used for holding incense.
covers--both for bread and incense.
bowls--cups; for though no mention is made of wine, libations were
undoubtedly made to God, according to Josephus and the rabbins, once a
week, when the bread was changed.
to cover withal--rather, "to pour out withal."
30. showbread--literally, presence bread, so called because it was
constantly exhibited before the Lord, or because the bread of His
presence, like the angel of His presence, pointed symbolically to
Christ. It consisted of twelve unleavened loaves, said traditionally to
have been laid in piles of six each. This bread was designed to be a
symbol of the full and never-failing provision which is made in the
Church for the spiritual sustenance and refreshment of God's people.
31. candlestick--literally, "a lamp bearer." It was so constructed as
to be capable of being taken to pieces for facility in removal. The
shaft or stock rested on a pedestal. It had seven branches, shaped like
reeds or canes--three on each side, with one in the center--and worked
out into knobs, flowers, and bowls, placed alternately [Ex 25:32-36].
The figure represented on the arch of Titus gives the best idea of this
candlestick.
33. knops--old spelling for "knobs"--bosses.
37. they shall light the lamps ... that they may give light--The light
was derived from pure olive oil, and probably kept continually burning
(compare Ex 30:7; Le 24:2).
38. tongs--snuffers.
39. a talent of pure gold--in weight equivalent to 125 lbs. troy.
40. look that thou make them after their pattern--This caution, which
is repeated with no small frequency in other parts of the narrative, is
an evidence of the deep interest taken by the Divine King in the
erection of His palace or sanctuary; and it is impossible to account
for the circumstance of God's condescending to such minute details,
except on the assumption that this tabernacle was to be of a typical
character, and eminently subservient to the religious instruction and
benefit of mankind, by shadowing forth in its leading features the
grand truths of the Christian Church.
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CHAPTER 26
Ex 26:1-37. Ten Curtains
1. cunning work--that is, of elegant texture, richly embroidered. The
word "cunning," in old English, is synonymous with "skilful."
2. length--Each curtain was to be fifteen yards in length and a little
exceeding two in breadth.
3. The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another, &c.--so
as to form two grand divisions, each eleven yards wide.
6. taches--clasps; supposed in shape, as well as in use, to be the same
as hooks and eyes.
7-13. curtains of goats' hair--These coarse curtains were to be one
more in number than the others, and to extend a yard lower on each
side, the use of them being to protect and conceal the richer curtains.
14. a covering ... of rams' skins dyed red--that is, of Turkey red
leather. [See on Ex 39:34.]
15-30. thou shalt make boards ... rear up the tabernacle according to
the fashion ... which was showed thee--The tabernacle, from its name as
well as from its general appearance and arrangements, was a tent; but
from the description given in these verses, the boards that formed its
walls, the five (cross) bars that strengthened them, and the middle bar
that "reached from end to end," and gave it solidity and compactness,
it was evidently a more substantial fabric than a light and fragile
tent, probably on account of the weight of its various coverings as
well as for the protection of its precious furniture.
36. an hanging for the door of the tent--Curtains of rich and elaborate
embroidery, made by the women, are suspended over the doors or
entrances of the tents occupied by Eastern chiefs and princes. In a
similar style of elegance was the hanging finished which was to cover
the door of this tabernacle--the chosen habitation of the God and King
of Israel. It appears from Ex 26:12, 22, 23, that the ark and mercy
seat were placed in the west end of the tabernacle, and consequently
the door or entrance fronted the east, so that the Israelites in
worshipping Jehovah, turned their faces towards the west; that they
might be thus figuratively taught to turn from the worship of that
luminary which was the great idol of the nations, and to adore the God
who made it and them [Hewlett].
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CHAPTER 27
Ex 27:1-21. Altar for Burnt Offering.
1, 2. altar of shittim wood--The dimensions of this altar which was
placed at the entrance of the sanctuary were nearly three yards square,
and a yard and a half in height. Under the wooden frame of this
chest-like altar the inside was hollow, and each corner was to be
terminated by "horns"--angular projections, perpendicular or oblique,
in the form of horns. The animals to be sacrificed were bound to these
(Ps 118:27), and part of the blood was applied to them.
3. shovels--fire shovels for scraping together any of the scattered
ashes.
basons--for receiving the blood of the sacrifice to be sprinkled on the
people.
fleshhooks--curved, three-pronged forks (1Sa 2:13, 14).
fire-pans--A large sort of vessel, wherein the sacred fire which came
down from heaven (Le 9:24) was kept burning, while they cleaned the
altar and the grate from the coals and ashes, and while the altar was
carried from one place to another in the wilderness [Patrick, Spencer,
Le Clerc].
4. a grate of network of brass--sunk latticework to support the fire.
four brazen rings--by which the grating might be lifted and taken away
as occasion required from the body of the altar.
5. put it under the compass of the altar beneath--that is, the grating
in which they were carried to a clean place (Le 4:12).
6, 7. staves ... rings--Those rings were placed at the side through
which the poles were inserted on occasions of removal.
9-19. the court of the tabernacle--The enclosure in which the edifice
stood was a rectangular court, extending rather more than fifty yards
in length and half that space in breadth, and the enclosing parapet was
about three yards or half the height of the tabernacle. That parapet
consisted of a connected series of curtains, made of fine twined linen
yarn, woven into a kind of network, so that the people could see
through; but that large curtain which overhung the entrance was of a
different texture, being embroidered and dyed with variegated colors,
and it was furnished with cords for pulling it up or drawing it aside
when the priests had occasion to enter. The curtains of this enclosure
were supported on sixty brazen pillars which stood on pedestals of the
same metal, but their capitals and fillets were of silver, and the
hooks on which they were suspended were of silver also.
19. pins--were designed to hold down the curtains at the bottom, lest
the wind should waft them aside.
20, 21. pure oil olive beaten--that is, such as runs from the olives
when bruised and without the application of fire.
for the light ... Aaron and his sons--were to take charge of lighting
it in all time coming.
21. shall order it from evening to morning--The tabernacle having no
windows, the lamps required to be lighted during the day. Josephus says
that in his time only three were lighted; but his were degenerate
times, and there is no Scripture authority for this limitation. But
although the priests were obliged from necessity to light them by day,
they might have let them go out at night had it not been for this
express ordinance.
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CHAPTER 28
Ex 28:1-43. Appointment to the Priesthood.
1. take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him--Moses
had hitherto discharged the priestly functions (Ps 99:6), and he
evinced the piety as well as humility of his character, in readily
complying with the command to invest his brother with the sacred
office, though it involved the perpetual exclusion of his own family.
The appointment was a special act of God's sovereignty, so that there
could be no ground for popular umbrage by the selection of Aaron's
family, with whom the office was inalienably established and continued
in unbroken succession till the introduction of the Christian era.
2-5. holy garments--No inherent holiness belonged either to the
material or the workmanship. But they are called "holy" simply because
they were not worn on ordinary occasions, but assumed in the discharge
of the sacred functions (Eze 44:19).
for glory and for beauty--It was a grand and sumptuous attire. In
material, elaborate embroidery, and color, it had an imposing splendor.
The tabernacle being adapted to the infantine aid of the church, it was
right and necessary that the priests' garments should be of such superb
and dazzling appearance, that the people might be inspired with a due
respect for the ministers as well as the rites of religion. But they
had also a further meaning; for being all made of linen, they were
symbolical of the truth, purity, and other qualities in Christ that
rendered Him such a high priest as became us.
6-14. ephod--It was a very gorgeous robe made of byssus, curiously
embroidered, and dyed with variegated colors, and further enriched with
golden tissue, the threads of gold being either originally interwoven
or afterwards inserted by the embroiderer. It was short--reaching from
the breast to a little below the loins--and though destitute of
sleeves, retained its position by the support of straps thrown over
each shoulder. These straps or braces, connecting the one with the
back, the other with the front piece of which the tunic was composed,
were united on the shoulder by two onyx stones, serving as buttons, and
on which the names of the twelve tribes were engraved, and set in
golden encasements. The symbolical design of this was, that the high
priest, who bore the names along with him in all his ministrations
before the Lord, might be kept in remembrance of his duty to plead
their cause, and supplicate the accomplishment of the divine promises
in their favor. The ephod was fastened by a girdle of the same costly
materials, that is, dyed, embroidered, and wrought with threads of
gold. It was about a handbreadth wide and wound twice round the upper
part of the waist; it fastened in front, the ends hanging down at great
length (Re 1:13).
15-29. thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work--a
very splendid and richly embroidered piece of brocade, a span square,
and doubled, to enable it the better to bear the weight of the precious
stones in it. There were twelve different stones, containing each the
name of a tribe, and arranged in four rows, three in each. The
Israelites had acquired a knowledge of the lapidary's art in Egypt, and
the amount of their skill in cutting, polishing, and setting precious
stones, may be judged of by the diamond forming one of the engraved
ornaments on this breastplate. A ring was attached to each corner,
through which the golden chains were passed to fasten this brilliant
piece of jewelry at the top and bottom tightly on the breast of the
ephod.
30. thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and
Thummim--The words signify "lights" and "perfections"; and nothing more
is meant than the precious stones of the breastplate already described
(compare Ex 39:8-21; Le 8:8). They received the name because the
bearing of them qualified the high priest to consult the divine oracle
on all public or national emergencies, by going into the holy
place--standing close before the veil and putting his hand upon the
Urim and Thummim, he conveyed a petition from the people and asked
counsel of God, who, as the Sovereign of Israel, gave response from the
midst of His glory. Little, however, is known about them. But it may be
remarked that Egyptian judges wore on the breast of their official
robes a representation of Justice, and the high priest in Israel long
officiated also as a judge; so that some think the Urim and Thummim had
a reference to his judicial functions.
31-33. the robe of the ephod all of blue--It was the middle garment,
under the ephod and above the coat. It had a hole through which the
head was thrust, and was formed carefully of one piece, such as was the
robe of Christ (Joh 19:23). The high priest's was of a sky-blue color.
The binding at the neck was strongly woven, and it terminated below in
a fringe, made of blue, purple, and scarlet tassels, in the form of a
pomegranate, interspersed with small bells of gold, which tinkled as
the wearer was in motion.
34. a golden bell and a pomegranate--The bells were hung between the
pomegranates, which were said to have amounted to seventy-two, and the
use of them seems to have been to announce to the people when the high
priest entered the most holy place, that they might accompany him with
their prayers, and also to remind himself to be attired in his official
dress, to minister without which was death.
36-38. plate--literally, a petal of a flower, which seems to have been
the figure of this golden plate, which was tied with a ribbon of blue
on the front of the mitre, so that every one facing him could read the
inscription.
37. mitre--crown-like cap for the head, not covering the entire head,
but adhering closely to it, composed of fine linen. The Scripture has
not described its form, but from Josephus we may gather that it was
conical in shape, as he distinguishes the mitres of the common priests
by saying that they were not conical--that it was encircled with
swathes of blue embroidered, and that it was covered by one piece of
fine linen to hide the seams.
39. coat of fine linen--a garment fastened at the neck, and reaching
far down the person, with the sleeves terminating at the elbow.
girdle of needlework--a piece of fine twined linen, richly embroidered,
and variously dyed. It is said to have been very long, and being many
times wound round the body, it was fastened in front and the ends hung
down, which, being an impediment to a priest in active duty, were
usually thrown across the shoulders. This was the outer garment of the
common priests.
40. bonnets--turbans.
42. linen breeches--drawers, which encompassed the loins and reached
half way down the thighs. They are seen very frequently represented in
Egyptian figures.
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CHAPTER 29
Ex 29:1-35. Consecrating the Priests and the Altar.
1. hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest's office--The act of
inaugurating the priests was accompanied by ceremonial solemnities well
calculated not only to lead the people to entertain exalted views of
the office, but to impress those functionaries themselves with a
profound sense of its magnitude and importance. In short, they were
taught to know that the service was for them as well as for the people;
and every time they engaged in a new performance of their duties, they
were reminded of their personal interest in the worship, by being
obliged to offer for themselves, before they were qualified to offer as
the representatives of the people.
this is the thing that thou shalt do--Steps are taken at the beginning
of a society, which would not be repeated when the social machine was
in full motion; and Moses, at the opening of the tabernacle, was
employed to discharge functions which in later periods would have been
regarded as sacrilege and punished with instant death. But he acted
under the special directions of God.
4-9. Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the
tabernacle--as occupying the intermediate space between the court where
the people stood, and the dwelling-place of Israel's king, and
therefore the fittest spot for the priests being duly prepared for
entrance, and the people witnessing the ceremony of inauguration.
wash them with water. And ... take the garments--The manner in which
these parts of the ceremonial were performed is minutely described, and
in discovering their symbolical import, which indeed, is sufficiently
plain and obvious, we have inspired authority to guide us. It signified
the necessity and importance of moral purity or holiness (Isa 52:11;
Joh 13:10; 2Co 7:1; 1Pe 3:21). In like manner, the investiture with the
holy garments signified their being clothed with righteousness (Re
19:8) and equipped as men active and well-prepared for the service of
God; the anointing the high priest with oil denoted that he was to be
filled with the influences of the Spirit, for the edification and
delight of the church (Le 10:7; Ps 45:7; Isa 61:1; 1Jo 2:27), and as he
was officially a type of Christ (Heb 7:26; Joh 3:34; also Mt 3:16;
11:29).
10-22. And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the
tabernacle--This part of the ceremonial consisted of three sacrifices:
(1) The sacrifice of a bullock, as a sin offering; and in rendering it,
the priest was directed to put his hand upon the head of his sacrifice,
expressing by that act a consciousness of personal guilt, and a wish
that it might be accepted as a vicarious satisfaction. (2) The
sacrifice of a ram as a burnt offering (Ex 29:15-18). The ram was to be
wholly burnt, in token of the priest's dedication of himself to God and
His service. The sin offering was first to be presented, and then the
burnt offering; for until guilt be removed, no acceptable service can
be performed. (3) There was to be a peace offering, called "the ram of
consecration" (Ex 29:19-22). And there was a marked peculiarity in the
manner in which this other ram was to be disposed of. The former was
for the glory of God--this was for the comfort of the priest himself;
and as a sign of a mutual covenant being ratified, the blood of the
sacrifice was divided--part sprinkled on the altar round about, and
part upon the persons and garments of the priests. Nay, the blood was,
by a singular act, directed to be put upon the extremities of the body,
thereby signifying that the benefits of the atonement would be applied
to the whole nature of man. Moreover, the flesh of this sacrifice was
to be divided, as it were, between God and the priest--part of it to be
put into his hand to be waved up and down, in token of its being
offered to God, and then it was to be burnt upon the altar; the other
part was to be eaten by the priests at the door of the tabernacle--that
feast being a symbol of communion or fellowship with God. These
ceremonies, performed in the order described, showed the qualifications
necessary for the priests. (See Heb 7:26, 27; 10:14).
35. seven days shalt thou consecrate them--The renewal of these
ceremonies on the return of every day in the seven, with the
intervention of a Sabbath, was a wise preparatory arrangement, in order
to afford a sufficient interval for calm and devout reflection (Heb
9:1; 10:1).
Ex 29:36, 37. Consecration of the Altar.
36. and thou shalt cleanse the altar--The phrase, "when thou hast made
an atonement for it," should be, upon it; and the purport of the
direction is, that during all the time they were engaged as above from
day to day in offering the appointed sacrifices, the greatest care was
to be taken to keep the altar properly cleansed--to remove the ashes,
and sprinkle it with the prescribed unction that, at the conclusion of
the whole ceremonial, the altar itself should be consecrated as much as
the ministers who were to officiate at it (Mt 23:19). It was
thenceforth associated with the services of religion.
Ex 29:38-46. Institution of Daily Service.
38. two lambs of the first year day by day continually--The sacred
preliminaries being completed, Moses was instructed in the end or
design to which these preparations were subservient, namely, the
worship of God; and hence the institution of the morning and evening
sacrifice. The institution was so imperative, that in no circumstances
was this daily oblation to be dispensed with; and the due observance of
it would secure the oft-promised grace and blessing of their heavenly
King.
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CHAPTER 30
Ex 30:1-38. The Altar of Incense.
1. thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon, &c.--Its material was
to be like that of the ark of the testimony, but its dimensions very
small [Ex 25:10].
2-4. foursquare--the meaning of which is not that it was to be entirely
of a cubical form, but that upon its upper and under surface, it showed
four equal sides. It was twice as high as it was broad, being
twenty-one inches broad and three feet six inches high. It had "horns";
its top or flat surface was surmounted by an ornamental ledge or rim,
called a crown, and it was furnished at the sides with rings for
carriage. Its only accompanying piece of furniture was a golden censer
or pan, in which the incense was set fire to upon the altar. Hence it
was called the altar of incense, or the "golden altar" [Ex 39:38;
40:26], from the profuse degree in which it was gilded or overlaid with
the precious metal. This splendor was adapted to the early age of the
church, but in later times, when the worship was to be more spiritual,
the altar of incense is prophetically described as not of gold but of
wood, and double the size of that in the tabernacle, because the church
should be vastly extended (Mal 1:11).
6. thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the
testimony--which separated the holy from the most holy place. The altar
was in the middle between the table of showbread and the candlestick
next the holy of holies, at equal distances from the north and south
walls; in other words, it occupied a spot on the outside of the great
partition veil, but directly in front of the mercy seat, which was
within that sacred enclosure; so that although the priest who
ministered at this altar could not behold the mercy seat, he was to
look towards it, and present his incense in that direction. This was a
special arrangement, and it was designed to teach the important lesson
that, though we cannot with the eye of sense, see the throne of grace,
we must "direct our prayer to it and look up" [Ps 5:3] (compare 2Co
3:14; Heb 10:20; Re 4:1).
7, 8. Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense--literally, "incense of
spices"--Strong aromatic substances were burnt upon this altar to
counteract by their odoriferous fragrance the offensive fumes of the
sacrifices; or the incense was employed in an offering of tributary
homage which the Orientals used to make as a mark of honor to kings;
and as God was Theocratic Ruler of Israel, His palace was not to be
wanting in a usage of such significancy. Both these ends were served by
this altar--that of fumigating the apartments of the sacred edifice,
while the pure lambent flame, according to Oriental notions, was an
honorary tribute to the majesty of Israel's King. But there was a far
higher meaning in it still; for as the tabernacle was not only a palace
for Israel's King, but a place of worship for Israel's God, this altar
was immediately connected with a religious purpose. In the style of the
sacred writers, incense was a symbol or emblem of prayer (Ps 141:2; Re
5:8; 8:3). From the uniform combination of the two services, it is
evident that the incense was an emblem of the prayers of sincere
worshippers ascending to heaven in the cloud of perfume; and,
accordingly, the priest who officiated at this altar typified the
intercessory office of Christ (Lu 1:10; Heb 7:25).
every morning ... at even--In every period of the national history this
daily worship was scrupulously observed.
8. Aaron shall burn incense--seemingly limiting the privilege of
officiating at the altar of incense to the high priest alone, and there
is no doubt that he and his successors exclusively attended this altar
on the great religious festivals. But "Aaron" is frequently used for
the whole priestly order, and in later times, any of the priests might
have officiated at this altar in rotation (Lu 1:9).
9. Ye shall offer no strange incense--that is, of a different
composition from that of which the ingredients are described so
minutely.
11-16. When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel, &c.--Moses
did so twice, and doubtless observed the law here prescribed. The tax
was not levied from women, minors, old men (Nu 1:42, 45), and the
Levites (Nu 1:47), they being not numbered. Assuming the shekel of the
sanctuary to be about half an ounce troy, though nothing certain is
known about it, the sum payable by each individual was two and four
pence. This was not a voluntary contribution, but a ransom for the soul
or lives of the people. It was required from all classes alike, and a
refusal to pay implied a wilful exclusion from the privileges of the
sanctuary, as well as exposure to divine judgments. It was probably the
same impost that was exacted from our Lord (Mt 17:24-27), and it was
usually devoted to repairs and other purposes connected with the
services of the sanctuary.
18-21. Thou shalt ... make a laver of brass--Though not actually
forming a component part of the furniture of the tabernacle, this vase
was closely connected with it; and though from standing at the entrance
it would be a familiar object, it possessed great interest and
importance from the baptismal purposes to which it was applied. No data
are given by which its form and size can be ascertained; but it was
probably a miniature pattern of Solomon's--a circular basin.
his foot--supposed not to be the pedestal on which it rested, but a
trough or shallow receptacle below, into which the water, let out from
a cock or spout, flowed; for the way in which all Eastern people wash
their hands or feet is by pouring upon them the water which falls into
a basin. This laver was provided for the priests alone. But in the
Christian dispensation, all believers are priests, and hence the
apostle exhorts them how to draw near to God (Joh 13:10; Heb 10:22).
23-33. Take thou also ... principal spices, &c.--Oil is frequently
mentioned in Scripture as an emblem of sanctification, and anointing
with it a means of designating objects as well as persons to the
service of God. Here it is prescribed by divine authority, and the
various ingredients in their several proportions described which were
to compose the oil used in consecrating the furniture of the
tabernacle.
myrrh--a fragrant and medicinal gum from a little known tree in Arabia.
sweet cinnamon--produced from a species of laurel or sweet bay, found
chiefly in Ceylon, growing to a height of twenty feet: this spice is
extracted from the inner bark, but it is not certain whether that
mentioned by Moses is the same as that with which we are familiar.
sweet calamus--or sweet cane, a product of Arabia and India, of a tawny
color in appearance; it is like the common cane and strongly
odoriferous.
24. cassia--from the same species of tree as the cinnamon--some think
the outer bark of that tree. All these together would amount to one
hundred twenty pounds, troy weight.
hin--a word of Egyptian origin, equal to ten pints. Being mixed with
the olive oil--no doubt of the purest kind--this composition probably
remained always in a liquid state, and the strictest prohibition issued
against using it for any other purpose than anointing the tabernacle
and its furniture.
34-38. the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices--These
were:
stacte--the finest myrrh;
onycha--supposed to be an odoriferous shell;
galbanum--a gum resin from an umbelliferous plant.
frankincense--a dry, resinous, aromatic gum, of a yellow color, which
comes from a tree in Arabia, and is obtained by incision of the bark.
This incense was placed within the sanctuary, to be at hand when the
priest required to burn on the altar. The art of compounding unguents
and perfumes was well known in Egypt, where sweet-scented spices were
extensively used not only in common life, but in the ritual of the
temples. Most of the ingredients here mentioned have been found on
minute examination of mummies and other Egyptian relics; and the
Israelites, therefore, would have the best opportunities of acquiring
in that country the skill in pounding and mixing them which they were
called to exercise in the service of the tabernacle. But the recipe for
the incense as well as for the oil in the tabernacle, though it
receives illustration from the customs of Egypt, was peculiar, and
being prescribed by divine authority, was to be applied to no common or
inferior purpose.
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CHAPTER 31
Ex 31:1-18. Bezaleel and Aholiab.
2. See, I have called--Though the instructions about the tabernacle
were privately communicated to Moses, it was plainly impossible that he
could superintend the work in person, amid the multiplicity of his
other duties. A head director or builder was selected by God Himself;
and the nomination by such high authority removed all ground of
jealousy or discontent on the part of any who might have thought their
merits overlooked (compare Mt 18:1).
by name Bezaleel--signifying "in the shadow or protection of God"; and,
as called to discharge a duty of great magnitude--to execute a
confidential trust in the ancient Church of God, he has his family and
lineage recorded with marked distinction. He belonged to the tribe of
Judah, which, doubtless for wise and weighty reasons, God all along
delighted to honor; and he was the grandson of Hur, a pious patriot (Ex
17:12), who was associated, by a special commission, with Aaron in the
government of the people during the absence of Moses. Moreover, it may
be noticed that a Jewish tradition affirms Hur to be the husband of
Miriam; and if this tradition may be relied on, it affords an
additional reason for the appointment of Bezaleel emanating from the
direct authority of God.
3-5. I have filled him with the spirit of God--It is probable that he
was naturally endowed with a mechanical genius, and had acquired in
Egypt great knowledge and skill in the useful, as well as liberal, arts
so as to be a first-class artisan, competent to take charge of both the
plain and ornamental work, which the building of the sacred edifice
required. When God has any special work to be accomplished, He always
raises up instruments capable of doing it; and it is likely that He had
given to the son of Uri that strong natural aptitude and those
opportunities of gaining mechanical skill, with an ultimate view to
this responsible office. Notwithstanding that his grand duty was to
conform with scrupulous fidelity to the pattern furnished, there was
still plenty of room for inventive talent and tasteful exactness in the
execution; and his natural and acquired gifts were enlarged and
invigorated for the important work.
6. I have given with him Aholiab--He belonged to the tribe of Dan, one
of the least influential and honorable in Israel; and here, too, we can
trace the evidence of wise and paternal design, in choosing the
colleague or assistant of Bezaleel from an inferior tribe (compare 1Co
12:14-25; also Mr 6:7).
all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom--At that period, when one
spirit pervaded all Israel, it was not the man full of heavenly genius
who presided over the work; but all who contributed their skill,
experience, and labor, in rendering the smallest assistance, showed
their piety and devotedness to the divine service. In like manner, it
was at the commencement of the Christian Church (Ac 6:5; 18:2).
12-17. Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep--The reason for the fresh
inculcation of the fourth commandment at this particular period was,
that the great ardor and eagerness, with which all classes betook
themselves to the construction of the tabernacle, exposed them to the
temptation of encroaching on the sanctity of the appointed day of rest.
They might suppose that the erection of the tabernacle was a sacred
work, and that it would be a high merit, an acceptable tribute, to
prosecute the undertaking without the interruption of a day's repose;
and therefore the caution here given, at the commencement of the
undertaking, was a seasonable admonition.
18. tables of stone, written with the finger of God--containing the ten
commandments (Ex 24:12), called "tables of testimony," because God
testified His will in them.
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CHAPTER 32
Ex 32:1-35. The Golden Calf.
1. when the people saw that Moses delayed--They supposed that he had
lost his way in the darkness or perished in the fire.
the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron--rather, "against"
Aaron in a tumultuous manner, to compel him to do what they wished. The
incidents related in this chapter disclose a state of popular sentiment
and feeling among the Israelites that stands in singular contrast to
the tone of profound and humble reverence they displayed at the giving
of the law. Within a space of little more than thirty days, their
impressions were dissipated. Although they were still encamped upon
ground which they had every reason to regard as holy; although the
cloud of glory that capped the summit of Sinai was still before their
eyes, affording a visible demonstration of their being in close
contact, or rather in the immediate presence, of God, they acted as if
they had entirely forgotten the impressive scenes of which they had
been so recently the witnesses.
said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us--The Hebrew
word rendered "gods" is simply the name of God in its plural form. The
image made was single, and therefore it would be imputing to the
Israelites a greater sin than they were guilty of, to charge them with
renouncing the worship of the true God for idols. The fact is, that
they required, like children, to have something to strike their senses,
and as the Shekinah, "the glory of God," of which they had hitherto
enjoyed the sight, was now veiled, they wished for some visible
material object as the symbol of the divine presence, which should go
before them as the pillar of fire had done.
2. Aaron said, ... Break off ... earrings--It was not an Egyptian
custom for young men to wear earrings, and the circumstance, therefore,
seems to point out "the mixed rabble," who were chiefly foreign slaves,
as the ringleaders in this insurrection. In giving direction to break
their earrings, Aaron probably calculated on gaining time; or, perhaps,
on their covetousness and love of finery proving stronger than their
idolatrous propensity. If such were his expectations, they were doomed
to signal disappointment. Better to have calmly and earnestly
remonstrated with them, or to have preferred duty to expediency,
leaving the issue in the hands of Providence.
3. all the people brake off the golden earrings--The Egyptian rings, as
seen on the monuments, were round massy plates of metal; and as they
were rings of this sort the Israelites wore, their size and number
must, in the general collection, have produced a large store of the
precious metal.
4. fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten
calf--The words are transposed, and the rendering should be, "he framed
with a graving tool the image to be made, and having poured the liquid
gold into the mould, he made it a molten calf." It is not said whether
it was of life size, whether it was of solid gold or merely a wooden
frame covered with plates of gold. This idol seems to have been the god
Apis, the chief deity of the Egyptians, worshipped at Memphis under the
form of a live ox, three years old. It was distinguished by a
triangular white spot on its forehead and other peculiar marks. Images
of it in the form of a whole ox, or of a calf's head on the end of a
pole, were very common; and it makes a great figure on the monuments
where it is represented in the van of all processions, as borne aloft
on men's shoulders.
they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of
the land of Egypt--It is inconceivable that they, who but a few weeks
before had witnessed such amazing demonstrations of the true God, could
have suddenly sunk to such a pitch of infatuation and brutish
stupidity, as to imagine that human art or hands could make a god that
should go before them. But it must be borne in mind, that though by
election and in name they were the people of God, they were as yet, in
feelings and associations, in habits and tastes, little, if at all
different, from Egyptians. They meant the calf to be an image, a
visible sign or symbol of Jehovah, so that their sin consisted not in a
breach of the FIRST [Ex 20:3], but of the SECOND commandment [Ex
20:4-6].
5, 6. Aaron made proclamation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to the
Lord--a remarkable circumstance, strongly confirmatory of the view that
they had not renounced the worship of Jehovah, but in accordance with
Egyptian notions, had formed an image with which they had been
familiar, to be the visible symbol of the divine presence. But there
seems to have been much of the revelry that marked the feasts of the
heathen.
7-14. the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down--Intelligence of the
idolatrous scene enacted at the foot of the mount was communicated to
Moses in language borrowed from human passions and feelings, and the
judgment of a justly offended God was pronounced in terms of just
indignation against the gross violation of the so recently promulgated
laws.
10. make of thee a great nation--Care must be taken not to suppose this
language as betokening any change or vacillation in the divine purpose.
The covenant made with the patriarchs had been ratified in the most
solemn manner; it could not and never was intended that it should be
broken. But the manner in which God spoke to Moses served two important
purposes--it tended to develop the faith and intercessory patriotism of
the Hebrew leader, and to excite the serious alarm of the people, that
God would reject them and deprive them of the privileges they had
fondly fancied were so secure.
15-18. Moses turned, and went down from the mount--The plain, Er-Raheh,
is not visible from the top of Jebel Musa, nor can the mount be
descended on the side towards that valley; hence Moses and his
companion, who on duty had patiently waited his return in the hollow of
the mountain's brow, heard the shouting some time before they actually
saw the camp.
19. Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his
hands--The arrival of the leader, like the appearance of a specter,
arrested the revellers in the midst of their carnival, and his act of
righteous indignation when he dashed on the ground the tables of the
law, in token that as they had so soon departed from their covenant
relation, so God could withdraw the peculiar privileges that He had
promised them--that act, together with the rigorous measures that
followed, forms one of the most striking scenes recorded in sacred
history.
20. he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire,
&c.--It has been supposed that the gold was dissolved by natron or some
chemical substance. But there is no mention of solubility here, or in
De 9:21; it was "burned in the fire," to cast it into ingots of
suitable size for the operations which follow--"grounded to powder";
the powder of malleable metals can be ground so fine as to resemble
dust from the wings of a moth or butterfly; and these dust particles
will float in water for hours, and in a running stream for days. These
operations of grinding were intended to show contempt for such
worthless gods, and the Israelites would be made to remember the
humiliating lesson by the state of the water they had drunk for a time
[Napier]. Others think that as the idolatrous festivals were usually
ended with great use of sweet wine, the nauseous draught of the gold
dust would be a severe punishment (compare 2Ki 23:6, 15; 2Ch 15:16;
34:7).
22. And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot--Aaron cuts a
poor figure, making a shuffling excuse and betraying more dread of the
anger of Moses than of the Lord (compare De 9:20).
25. naked--either unarmed and defenseless, or ashamed from a sense of
guilt. Some think they were literally naked, as the Egyptians performed
some of their rites in that indecent manner.
26-28. Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said--The camp is
supposed to have been protected by a rampart after the attack of the
Amalekites.
Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me--The zeal and courage
of Moses was astonishing, considering he opposed an intoxicated mob.
The people were separated into two divisions, and those who were the
boldest and most obstinate in vindicating their idolatry were put to
death, while the rest, who withdrew in shame or sorrow, were spared.
29. Consecrate yourselves to-day to the Lord--or, "Ye have consecrated
yourselves to-day." The Levites, notwithstanding the dejection of
Aaron, distinguished themselves by their zeal for the honor of God and
their conduct in doing the office of executioners on this occasion; and
this was one reason that they were appointed to a high and honorable
office in the service of the sanctuary.
30-33. Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin--Moses
labored to show the people the heinous nature of their sin, and to
bring them to repentance. But not content with that, he hastened more
earnestly to intercede for them.
32. blot me ... out of thy book--an allusion to the registering of the
living, and erasing the names of those who die. What warmth of
affection did he evince for his brethren! How fully was he animated
with the true spirit of a patriot, when he professed his willingness to
die for them. But Christ actually died for His people (Ro 5:8).
35. the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf--No
immediate judgments were inflicted, but this early lapse into idolatry
was always mentioned as an aggravation of their subsequent apostasies.
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CHAPTER 33
Ex 33:1-23. The Lord Refuses to Go with the People.
1. the Lord said--rather "had" said unto Moses. The conference detailed
in this chapter must be considered as having occurred prior to the
pathetic intercession of Moses, recorded at the close of the preceding
chapter; and the historian, having mentioned the fact of his earnest
and painful anxiety, under the overwhelming pressure of which he poured
forth that intercessory prayer for his apostate countrymen, now enters
on a detailed account of the circumstances.
3. I will not go up ... lest I consume thee--Here the Lord is
represented as determined to do what He afterwards did not. (See on Ex
32:7).
4. when the people heard these evil tidings--from Moses on his descent
from the mount.
5. put off thy ornaments--In seasons of mourning, it is customary with
Eastern people to lay aside all gewgaws and divest themselves of their
jewels, their gold, and every thing rich and splendid in their dress.
This token of their sorrow the Lord required of His offending people.
that I may know what to do unto thee--The language is accommodated to
the feeble apprehensions of men. God judges the state of the heart by
the tenor of the conduct. In the case of the Israelites, He cherished a
design of mercy; and the moment He discerned the first symptoms of
contrition, by their stripping off their ornaments, as penitents
conscious of their error and sincerely sorrowful, this fact added its
weight to the fervency of Moses' prayers, and gave them prevalence with
God in behalf of the people.
7. Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp--Not the
tabernacle, of which a pattern had been given him, for it was not yet
erected, but his own tent--conspicuous as that of the leader--in a part
of which he heard cases and communed with God about the people's
interests; hence called "the tabernacle of the congregation," and the
withdrawal of which, in abhorrence from a polluted camp, was regarded
as the first step in the total abandonment with which God had
threatened them.
8. all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door--Its
removal produced deep and universal consternation; and it is easy to
conceive how anxiously all eyes would be directed towards it; how
rapidly the happy intelligence would spread, when a phenomenon was
witnessed from which an encouraging hope could be founded.
9-11. the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the
tabernacle--How would the downcast hearts of the people revive--how
would the tide of joy swell in every bosom, when the symbolic cloud was
seen slowly and majestically to descend and stand at the entrance of
the tabernacle!
as Moses entered--It was when he appeared as their mediator, when he
repaired from day to day to intercede for them, that welcome token of
assurance was given that his advocacy prevailed, that Israel's sin was
forgiven, and that God would again be gracious.
18-23. I beseech thee, show me thy glory--This is one of the most
mysterious scenes described in the Bible: he had, for his comfort and
encouragement, a splendid and full display of the divine majesty, not
in its unveiled effulgence, but as far as the weakness of humanity
would admit. The face, hand, back parts, are to be understood
figuratively.
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CHAPTER 34
Ex 34:1-35. The Tables Are Renewed.
1. the like unto the first--God having been reconciled to repentant
Israel, through the earnest intercession, the successful mediation of
Moses, means were to be taken for the restoration of the broken
covenant. Intimation was given, however, in a most intelligible and
expressive manner, that the favor was to be restored with some memento
of the rupture; for at the former time God Himself had provided the
materials, as well as written upon them. Now, Moses was to prepare the
stone tables, and God was only to retrace the characters originally
inscribed for the use and guidance of the people.
2. present thyself ... to me in the top of the mount--Not absolutely
the highest peak; for as the cloud of the Shekinah usually abode on the
summit, and yet (Ex 34:5) it "descended," the plain inference is that
Moses was to station himself at a point not far distant, but still
below the loftiest pinnacle.
3. no man shall come up with thee ... neither ... flocks nor herds--All
these enactments were made in order that the law might be a second time
renewed with the solemnity and sanctity that marked its first delivery.
The whole transaction was ordered so as to impress the people with an
awful sense of the holiness of God; and that it was a matter of no
trifling moment to have subjected Him, so to speak, to the necessity of
re-delivering the law of the ten commandments.
4. Moses ... took in his hand the two tables of stone--As Moses had no
attendant to divide the labor of carrying them, it is evident that they
must have been light, and of no great dimensions--probably flat slabs
of shale or slate, such as abound in the mountainous region of Horeb.
An additional proof of their comparatively small size appears in the
circumstance of their being deposited in the ark of the most holy place
(Ex 25:10).
5. the Lord descended in the cloud--After graciously hovering over the
tabernacle, it seems to have resumed its usual position on the summit
of the mount. It was the shadow of God manifest to the outward senses;
and, at the same time, of God manifest in the flesh. The emblem of a
cloud seems to have been chosen to signify that, although He was
pleased to make known much about himself, there was more veiled from
mortal view. It was to check presumption and engender awe and give a
humble sense of human attainments in divine knowledge, as now man sees,
but darkly.
6. the Lord passed by before him--in this remarkable scene, God
performed what He had promised to Moses the day before.
proclaimed, The Lord ... merciful and gracious--At an earlier period He
had announced Himself to Moses, in the glory of His self-existent and
eternal majesty, as "I am" [Ex 3:14]; now He makes Himself known in the
glory of His grace and goodness--attributes that were to be
illustriously displayed in the future history and experience of the
church. Being about to republish His law--the sin of the Israelites
being forgiven and the deed of pardon about to be signed and sealed by
renewing the terms of the former covenant--it was the most fitting time
to proclaim the extent of the divine mercy which was to be displayed,
not in the case of Israel only, but of all who offend.
8-26. Moses bowed ... and worshipped--In the East, people bow the head
to royalty, and are silent when it passes by, while in the West, they
take off their hats and shout.
9, 10. he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my
Lord, I pray thee, go among us--On this proclamation, he, in the
overflowing benevolence of s heart, founded an earnest petition for the
Divine Presence being continued with the people; and God was pleased to
give His favorable answer to Moses' intercession by a renewal of His
promise under the form of a covenant, repeating the leading points that
formed the conditions of the former national compact.
27, 28. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words--that is,
the ceremonial and judicial injunctions comprehended above (Ex
34:11-26); while the rewriting of the ten commandments on the newly
prepared slabs was done by God Himself (compare De 10:1-4).
28. he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights--as long as
formerly [Ex 24:18], being sustained for the execution of his special
duties by the miraculous power of God. A special cause is assigned for
his protracted fast on this second occasion (De 9:18).
29. Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with
him--It was an intimation of the exalted presence into which he had
been admitted and of the glory he had witnessed (2Co 3:18); and in that
view, it was a badge of his high office as the ambassador of God. No
testimonial needed to be produced. He bore his credentials on his very
face; and whether this extraordinary effulgence was a permanent or
merely temporary distinction, it cannot be doubted that this reflected
glory was given him as an honor before all the people.
30. they were afraid to come nigh him--Their fear arose from a sense of
guilt--the beaming radiance of his countenance made him appear to their
awe-struck consciences a flaming minister of heaven.
33. he put a veil on his face--That veil was with the greatest
propriety removed when speaking with the Lord, for every one appears
unveiled to the eye of Omniscience; but it was replaced on returning to
the people--and this was emblematic of the dark and shadowy character
of that dispensation (2Co 3:13, 14).
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CHAPTER 35
Ex 35:1-35. Contributions to the Tabernacle.
1. Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel,
&c.--On the occasion referred to in the opening of this chapter, the
Israelites were specially reminded of the design to erect a magnificent
tabernacle for the regular worship of God, as well as of the leading
articles that were required to furnish that sacred edifice [Ex
35:11-19]. (See on Ex 25:1-40; Ex 27:1-21; Ex 30:1-31:18).
20, 21. all the congregation of Israel departed from the presence of
Moses--No exciting harangues were made, nor had the people Bibles at
home in which they could compare the requirements of their leader and
see if these things were so. But they had no doubt as to his bearing to
them the will of God, and they were impressed with so strong a sense of
its being their duty, that they made a spontaneous offer of the best
and most valuable treasures they possessed.
21. they came, every one whose heart stirred him up--One powerful
element doubtless of this extraordinary open-hearted liberality was the
remembrance of their recent transgression, which made them "zealous of
good works" (compare 2Co 7:11). But along with this motive, there were
others of a higher and nobler kind--a principle of love to God and
devotedness to His service, an anxious desire to secure the benefit of
His presence, and gratitude for the tokens of His divine favor: it was
under the combined influence of these considerations that the people
were so willing and ready to pour their contributions into that
exchequer of the sanctuary.
every one whom his spirit made willing--Human nature is always the
same, and it is implied that while an extraordinary spirit of pious
liberality reigned in the bosoms of the people at large, there were
exceptions--some who were too fond of the world, who loved their
possessions more than their God, and who could not part with these; no,
not for the service of the tabernacle.
22. they came, both men and women, &c.--literally, "the men over and
above the women"; a phraseology which implies that the women acted a
prominent part, presented their offerings first, and then were followed
by as many of their male companions as were similarly disposed.
brought bracelets, &c.--There was in that early age no money in the
form of coins or bullion. What money passed current with the merchant
consisted of rings which were weighed, and principally of ornaments for
personal decoration. Astonishment at the abundance of their ornaments
is at an end when we learn that costly and elegant ornaments abounded
in proportion as clothing was simple and scarce among the Egyptians,
and some, entirely divested of clothing, yet wore rich necklaces
[Hengstenberg]. Among people with Oriental sentiments and tastes,
scarcely any stronger proof could have been given of the power of
religion than their willingness not only to lay aside, but to devote
those much-valued trinkets to the house of God; and thus all, like the
Eastern sages, laid the best they had at the service of God.
30. See, the Lord hath called by name Bezaleel, the son of Uri,
&c.--Moses had made this communication before [see Ex 31:2-5; also see
on Ex 31:2]. But now that the collection had been made, the materials
were contributed, and the operations of building about to be commenced,
it was with the greatest propriety he reminded the people that the
individuals entrusted with the application of their gold and silver had
been nominated to the work by authority to which all would bow.
35. Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart--A statement which not
only testifies that skill in art and science is a direct gift from God,
but that weaving was especially the business of men in Egypt (see Ex
38:22; 39:22, 27). And in perfect harmony with the testimony of the
monuments is the account given by Moses to the artists who were
divinely taught the arts necessary for the embellishment of the
tabernacle. Others, whose limited means did not admit of these
expensive contributions, offered their gratuitous services in
fabricating such articles of tapestry as were needed; arts which the
Israelitish females learned as bondwomen, in the houses of Egyptian
princes.
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CHAPTER 36
Ex 36:1-38. Offerings Delivered to the Workmen.
1. Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise-hearted man,
&c.--Here is an illustrious example of zeal and activity in the work of
the Lord. No unnecessary delay was allowed to take place; and from the
moment the first pole was stuck in the ground till the final completion
of the sacred edifice, he and his associates labored with all the
energies both of mind and body engaged in the work. And what was the
mainspring of their arduous and untiring diligence? They could be
actuated by none of the ordinary motives that give impulse to human
industry, by no desire for the acquisition of gain; no ambition for
honor; no view of gratifying a mere love of power in directing the
labors of a large body of men. They felt the stimulus--the strong
irresistible impulse of higher and holier motives--obedience to the
authority, zeal for the glory, and love to the service of God.
3. they (the workmen)
received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had
brought, &c.--It appears that the building was begun after the first
few contributions were made; it was progressively carried on, and no
necessity occurred to suspend operations even for the shortest
interval, from want of the requisite materials.
they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning, &c.--Moses, in
common with other Oriental magistrates, had his morning levees for
receiving the people (see on Ex 18:13); and it was while he was
performing his magisterial duties that the people brought unto him
freewill offerings every morning. Some who had nothing but their manual
labor to give would spend a great part of the night in hastening to
complete their self-imposed task before the early dawn; others might
find their hearts constrained by silent meditations on their beds to
open their coffers and give a part of their hoarded treasure to the
pious object. All whose hearts were touched by piety, penitence, or
gratitude, repaired with eager haste into the presence of Moses, not as
heretofore, to have their controversies settled, but to lay on his
tribunal their contributions to the sanctuary of God (2Co 9:7).
5. they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than
enough, &c.--By the calculations which the practised eyes of the
workmen enabled them to make, they were unanimously of the opinion that
the supply already far exceeded the demand and that no more
contributions were required. Such a report reflects the highest honor
on their character as men of the strictest honor and integrity, who,
notwithstanding they had command of an untold amount of the most
precious things and might, without any risk of human discovery, have
appropriated much to their own use, were too high principled for such
acts of peculation. Forthwith, a proclamation was issued to stop
further contributions [Ex 36:6].
35. he made a veil of blue--the second or inner veil, which separated
the holy from the most holy place, embroidered with cherubim and of
great size and thickness.
37. made an hanging for the ... door--Curtains of elaborately wrought
needlework are often suspended over the entrance to tents of the great
nomad sheiks, and throughout Persia, at the entrance of summer tents,
mosques, and palaces. They are preferred as cooler and more elegant
than wooden doors. This chapter contains an instructive narrative: it
is the first instance of donations made for the worship of God, given
from the wages of the people's sufferings and toils. They were
acceptable to God (Php 4:18), and if the Israelites showed such
liberality, how much more should those whose privilege it is to live
under the Christian dispensation (1Co 6:20; 16:2).
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CHAPTER 37
Ex 37:1-29. Furniture of the Tabernacle.
1. Bezaleel made the ark--The description here given of the things
within the sacred edifice is almost word for word the same as that
contained in Ex 25:1-40. It is not on that account to be regarded as a
useless repetition of minute particulars; for by the enumeration of
these details, it can be seen how exactly everything was fashioned
according to the "pattern shown on the mount" [Ex 25:40]; and the
knowledge of this exact correspondence between the prescription and the
execution was essential to the purposes of the fabric.
6-10. made the mercy seat of pure gold--To construct a figure, whether
the body of a beast or a man, with two extended wings, measuring from
two to three feet from tip to tip, with the hammer, out of a solid
piece of gold, was what few, if any, artisans of the present day could
accomplish.
17-22. he made the candlestick of pure gold--Practical readers will be
apt to say, "Why do such works with the hammer, when they could have
been cast so much easier--a process they were well acquainted with?"
The only answer that can be given is, that it was done according to
order. We have no doubt but there were reasons for so distinctive an
order, something significant, which has not been revealed to us
[Napier]. The whole of that sacred building was arranged with a view to
inculcate through every part of its apparatus the great fundamental
principles of revelation. Every object was symbolical of important
truth--every piece of furniture was made the hieroglyphic of a doctrine
or a duty--on the floor and along the sides of that movable edifice was
exhibited, by emblematic signs addressed to the eye, the whole remedial
scheme of the gospel. How far this spiritual instruction was received
by every successive generation of the Israelites, it may not be easy to
determine. But the tabernacle, like the law of which it was a part, was
a schoolmaster to Christ [Ga 3:24, 25]. Just as the walls of schools
are seen studded with pictorial figures, by which the children, in a
manner level to their capacities and suited to arrest their volatile
minds, are kept in constant and familiar remembrance of the lessons of
piety and virtue, so the tabernacle was intended by its furniture and
all its arrangements to serve as a "shadow of good things to come" [Heb
10:1]. In this view, the minute description given in this chapter
respecting the ark and mercy seat, the table of showbread, the
candlestick, the altar of incense, and the holy oil, were of the
greatest utility and importance; and though there are a few things that
are merely ornamental appendages, such as the knops and the flowers,
yet, in introducing these into the tabernacle, God displayed the same
wisdom and goodness as He has done by introducing real flowers into the
kingdom of nature to engage and gratify the eye of man.
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CHAPTER 38
Ex 38:1-31. Furniture of the Tabernacle.
1. the altar of burnt offering--The repetitions are continued, in which
may be traced the exact conformity of the execution to the order.
8. laver of brass ... of the looking glasses of the women--The word
mirrors should have been used, as those implements, usually round,
inserted into a handle of wood, stone, or metal, were made of brass,
silver, or bronze, highly polished [Wilkinson]. It was customary for
the Egyptian women to carry mirrors with them to the temples; and
whether by taking the looking glasses of the Hebrew women Moses
designed to put it out of their power to follow a similar practice at
the tabernacle, or whether the supply of brass from other sources in
the camp was exhausted, it is interesting to learn how zealously and to
a vast extent they surrendered those valued accompaniments of the
female toilet.
of the women assembling ... at the door--not priestesses but women of
pious character and influence, who frequented the courts of the sacred
building (Lu 2:37), and whose parting with their mirrors, like the
cutting the hair of the Nazarites, was their renouncing the world for a
season [Hengstenberg].
9. the court--It occupied a space of one hundred and fifty feet by
seventy-five, and it was enclosed by curtains of fine linen about eight
feet high, suspended on brazen or copper pillars. Those curtains were
secured by rods fastened to the top, and kept extended by being
fastened to pins stuck in the ground.
10. hooks--The hooks of the pillars in the court were for hanging up
the carcasses of the sacrificial beasts--those on the pillars at the
entry of the tabernacle were for hanging the sacerdotal robes and other
things used in the service.
11. sockets--mortices or holes in which the end of the pillars stood.
17. chapiters--or capitals of the pillars, were wooden posts which ran
along their top, to which were attached the hooks for the hangings.
18. the height in the breadth--or, "in the measure." The sense is that
the hangings of the court gate, which was twenty cubits wide, were of
the same height as the hangings all round the court [Wall].
21. This is the sum of the tabernacle--Having completed his description
of the component parts of the tabernacle, the inspired historian
digresses into a statement respecting the gold and silver employed in
it, the computation being made according to an order of Moses--by the
Levites, under the direction of Ithamar, Aaron's youngest son.
24. twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty
shekels--equivalent to £150,00 sterling.
25. the silver of them that were numbered--603,550 men at half a shekel
each would contribute 301,775 shekels; which at 2s. 4d. each, amounts
to £35,207 sterling. It may seem difficult to imagine how the
Israelites should be possessed of so much wealth in the desert; but it
should be remembered that they were enriched first by the spoils of the
Egyptians, and afterwards by those of the Amalekites. Besides, it is
highly probable that during their sojourn they traded with the
neighboring nations who bordered on the wilderness [Hewlett].
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CHAPTER 39
Ex 39:1-43. Garments of the Priests.
1, 2. cloths of service--official robes. The ephod of the high priest,
the robe of the ephod, the girdle of needlework, and the embroidered
coat were all of fine linen; for on no material less delicate could
such elaborate symbolical figures have been portrayed in embroidery,
and all beautified with the same brilliant colors. (See on Ex 28:1-43).
3. cut the gold into wires to work it--that is, the metal was beaten
with a hammer into thin plates, cut with scissors or some other
instrument into long slips, then rounded into filaments or threads.
"Cloth of golden tissue is not uncommon on the monuments, and specimens
of it have been found rolled about mummies; but it is not easy to
determine whether the gold thread was originally interwoven or
subsequently inserted by the embroiderer" [Taylor].
30. a writing, like to the engravings of a signet--The seal-ring worn
both by ancient and modern Egyptians on the little finger of the right
hand, contained, inscribed on a cornelian or other precious stone,
along with the owner's name, a religious sentiment or sacred symbol,
intimating that he was the servant of God, or expressive of trust in
Him. And it was to this practice the inscription on the high priest
alludes (compare Joh 3:33).
34. the covering of rams' skin dyed red--(See on Ex 25:5). It was
probably red morocco leather and "badgers' skins," rather "the skins of
the tahash, supposed to be the dugong, or dolphin of the Red Sea, the
skin of which is still used by the Arabs under the same appellation"
[Goss].
43. Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as
the Lord had commanded--A formal inspection was made on the completion
of the tabernacle, not only with a view to have the work transferred
from the charge of the workmen, but to ascertain whether it
corresponded with "the pattern." The result of a careful and minute
survey showed that every plank, curtain, altar, and vase had been most
accurately made of the form, and in the place designed by the Divine
Architect--and Moses, in accepting it of their hands, thanked God for
them, and begged Him to bless them.
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CHAPTER 40
Ex 40:1-38. The Tabernacle Reared and Anointed.
2. On the first day of the first month--From a careful consideration of
the incidents recorded to have happened after the exodus (Ex 12:2;
13:4; 19:1; 20:18; 34:28, &c.), it has been computed that the work of
the tabernacle was commenced within six months after that emigration;
and consequently, that other six months had been occupied in building
it. So long a period spent in preparing the materials of a movable
pavilion, it would be difficult to understand, were it not for what we
are told of the vast dimensions of the tabernacle, as well as the
immense variety of curious and elaborate workmanship which its
different articles of furniture required.
the tabernacle--the entire edifice.
the tent--the covering that surmounted it (Ex 40:19).
15. anoint them, as thou didst anoint their fathers--The sacred oil was
used, but it does not appear that the ceremony was performed exactly in
the same manner; for although the anointing oil was sprinkled over the
garments both of Aaron and his sons (Ex 29:21; Le 8:30), it was not
poured over the heads of the latter. This distinction was reserved for
the high priest (Ex 29:7; Le 8:12; Ps 133:2).
16. Thus did Moses: according to all that the Lord commanded him--On
his part, the same scrupulous fidelity was shown in conforming to the
"pattern" in the disposition of the furniture, as had been displayed by
the workmen in the erection of the edifice.
33. So Moses finished the work--Though it is not expressly recorded in
this passage, yet, from what took place on all similar occasions, there
is reason to believe that on the inauguration day the people were
summoned from their tents--were all drawn up as a vast assemblage, yet
in calm and orderly arrangement, around the newly erected tabernacle.
34. a cloud--literally, "The cloud," the mystic cloud which was the
well-known symbol of the Divine Presence. After remaining at a great
distance from them on the summit of the mount, it appeared to be in
motion; and if many among them had a secret misgiving about the issue,
how the fainting heart would revive, the interest of the moment
intensely increase, and the tide of joy swell in every bosom, when that
symbolic cloud was seen slowly and majestically descending towards the
plain below and covering the tabernacle. The entire and universal
concealment of the tabernacle within the folds of an impervious cloud
was not without a deep and instructive meaning; it was a protection to
the sacred edifice from the burning heats of the Arabian climate; it
was a token of the Divine Presence; and it was also an emblem of the
Mosaic dispensation, which, though it was a revelation from heaven, yet
left many things hid in obscurity; for it was a dark cloud compared
with the bright cloud, which betokened the clearer and fuller
discoveries of the divine character and glory in the gospel (Mt 17:5).
the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle--that is, light and fire, a
created splendor, which was the peculiar symbol of God (1Jo 1:5).
Whether this light was inherent in the cloud or not, it emanated from
it on this occasion, and making its entry, not with the speed of a
lightning flash as if it were merely an electric spark, but in majestic
splendor, it passed through the outer porch into the interior of the
most holy place (1Ki 8:10; Joh 1:14). Its miraculous character is shown
by the fact, that, though "it filled the tabernacle," not a curtain or
any article of furniture was so much as singed.
35. Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation--How
does this circumstance show the incapacity of man, in his present
state, to look upon the unveiled perfections of the Godhead! Moses
could not endure the unclouded effulgence, nor the sublimest of the
prophets (Isa 6:5). But what neither Moses nor the most eminent of
God's messengers to the ancient church through the weakness of nature
could endure, we can all now do by an exercise of faith; looking unto
Jesus, who reflected with chastened radiance the brightness of the
Father's glory; and who, having as the Forerunner for us, entered
within the veil, has invited us to come boldly to the mercy seat. While
Moses was compelled, through the influence of overwhelming awe, to
stand aloof and could not enter the tabernacle, Christ entered into the
holy place not made with hands; nay, He is Himself the true tabernacle,
filled with the glory of God, ever with the grace and truth which the
Shekinah typified. What great reason we have to thank God for Jesus
Christ, who, while He Himself was the brightness of the Father's glory,
yet exhibited that glory in so mild and attractive a manner, as to
allure us to draw near with confidence and love into the Divine
Presence!
36. when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle--In journeying
through the sandy, trackless deserts of the East, the use of torches,
exhibiting a cloud of smoke by day and of fire by night, has been
resorted to from time immemorial. The armies of Darius and Alexander
were conducted on their marches in this manner [Faber]. The Arab
caravans in the present day observe the same custom; and materials for
these torches are stored up among other necessary preparations for a
journey. Live fuel, hoisted in chafing dishes at the end of long poles,
and being seen at a great distance, serves, by the smoke in the daytime
and the light at night, as a better signal for march than the sound of
a trumpet, which is not heard at the extremities of a large camp
[Laborde]. This usage, and the miracle related by Moses, mutually
illustrate each other. The usage leads us to think that the miracle was
necessary, and worthy of God to perform; and, on the other hand, the
miracle of the cloudy pillar, affording double benefit of shade by day
and light at night, implies not only that the usage was not unknown to
the Hebrews, but supplied all the wants which they felt in common with
other travellers through those dreary regions [Faber, Hess,
Grandpierre]. But its peculiar appearance, unvarying character, and
regular movements, distinguished it from all the common atmospheric
phenomena. It was an invaluable boon to the Israelites, and being
recognized by all classes among that people as the symbol of the Divine
Presence, it guided their journeys and regulated their encampments
(compare Ps 29:1-11; 105:1-45).
38. the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle, &c.--While it had
hitherto appeared sometimes in one place, sometimes in another, it was
now found on the tabernacle only; so that from the moment that
sanctuary was erected, and the glory of the Lord had filled the sacred
edifice, the Israelites had to look to the place which God had chosen
to put His name there, in order that they might enjoy the benefit of a
heavenly Guide (Nu 9:15-23). In like manner, the church had divine
revelation for its guide from the first--long before the Word of God
existed in a written form; but ever since the setting up of that sacred
canon, it rests on that as its tabernacle and there only is it to be
found. It accompanies us wherever we are or go, just as the cloud led
the way of the Israelites. It is always accessible and can be carried
in our pockets when we walk abroad; it may be engraved on the inner
tablets of our memories and our hearts; and so true, faithful, and
complete a guide is it, that there is not a scene of duty or of trial
through which we may be called to pass in the world, but it furnishes a
clear, a safe, and unerring direction (Col 3:16).
__________________________________________________________________
THE THIRD BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED
LEVITICUS.
Commentary by Robert Jamieson
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 1
Le 1:1-17. Burnt Offerings of the Herd.
1. the Lord ... spake ... out of the tabernacle--The laws that are
contained in the previous record were delivered either to the people
publicly from Sinai, or to Moses privately, on the summit of that
mountain; but on the completion of the tabernacle, the remainder of the
law was announced to the Hebrew leader by an audible voice from the
divine glory, which surmounted the mercy seat.
2. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them--If the subject
of communication were of a temporal nature, the Levites were excluded;
but if it were a spiritual matter, all the tribes were comprehended
under this name (De 27:12).
If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord--The directions given
here relate solely to voluntary or freewill offerings--those rendered
over and above such, as being of standing and universal obligation,
could not be dispensed with or commuted for any other kind of offering
(Ex 29:38; Le 23:37; Nu 28:3, 11-27, &c.).
bring your offering of the cattle, &c.--that is, those animals that
were not only tame, innocent and gentle, but useful and adapted for
food. This rule excluded horses, dogs, swine, camels, and asses, which
were used in sacrifice by some heathen nations, beasts and birds of
prey, as also hares and deers.
3. a burnt sacrifice--so called from its being wholly consumed on the
altar; no part of it was eaten either by the priests or the offerer. It
was designed to propitiate the anger of God incurred by original sin,
or by particular transgressions; and its entire combustion indicated
the self-dedication of the offerer--his whole nature--his body and
soul--as necessary to form a sacrifice acceptable to God (Ro 12:1; Php
1:20). This was the most ancient as well as the most conspicuous mode
of sacrifice.
a male without blemish--No animal was allowed to be offered that had
any deformity or defect. Among the Egyptians, a minute inspection was
made by the priest; and the bullock having been declared perfect, a
certificate to that effect being fastened to its horns with wax, was
sealed with his ring, and no other might be substituted. A similar
process of examining the condition of the beasts brought as offerings,
seems to have been adopted by the priests in Israel (Joh 6:27).
at the door of the tabernacle--where stood the altar of burnt offering
(Ex 40:6). Every other place was forbidden, under the highest penalty
(Le 17:4).
4. shall put his hand upon the head--This was a significant act which
implied not only that the offerer devoted the animal to God, but that
he confessed his consciousness of sin and prayed that his guilt and its
punishment might be transferred to the victim.
and it shall be--rather, "that it may be an acceptable atonement."
5. he shall kill the bullock--The animal should be killed by the
offerer, not by the priest, for it was not his duty in case of
voluntary sacrifices; in later times, however, the office was generally
performed by Levites.
before the Lord--on the spot where the hands had been laid upon the
animal's head, on the north side of the altar.
sprinkle the blood--This was to be done by the priests. The blood being
considered the life, the effusion of it was the essential part of the
sacrifice; and the sprinkling of it--the application of the
atonement--made the person and services of the offerer acceptable to
God. The skin having been stripped off, and the carcass cut up, the
various pieces were disposed on the altar in the manner best calculated
to facilitate their being consumed by the fire.
8. the fat--that about the kidneys especially, which is called "suet."
9. but his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water, &c.--This part
of the ceremony was symbolical of the inward purity, and the holy walk,
that became acceptable worshippers.
a sweet savour unto the Lord--is an expression of the offerer's piety,
but especially as a sacrificial type of Christ.
10-13. if his offering be of the flocks--Those who could not afford the
expense of a bullock might offer a ram or a he-goat, and the same
ceremonies were to be observed in the act of offering.
14-17. if the burnt sacrifice ... be of fowls--The gentle nature and
cleanly habits of the dove led to its selection, while all other fowls
were rejected, either for the fierceness of their disposition or the
grossness of their taste; and in this case, there being from the
smallness of the animal no blood for waste, the priest was directed to
prepare it at the altar and sprinkle the blood. This was the offering
appointed for the poor. The fowls were always offered in pairs, and the
reason why Moses ordered two turtledoves or two young pigeons, was not
merely to suit the convenience of the offerer, but according as the
latter was in season; for pigeons are sometimes quite hard and unfit
for eating, at which time turtledoves are very good in Egypt and
Palestine. The turtledoves are not restricted to any age because they
are always good when they appear in those countries, being birds of
passage; but the age of the pigeons is particularly marked that they
might not be offered to God at times when they are rejected by men
[Harmer]. It is obvious, from the varying scale of these voluntary
sacrifices, that the disposition of the offerer was the thing looked
to--not the costliness of his offering.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 2
Le 2:1-16. The Meat Offerings.
1. when any will offer a meat offering--or gift--distinguishing a
bloodless from a bloody sacrifice. The word "meat," however, is
improper, as its meaning as now used is different from that attached at
the date of our English translation. It was then applied not to
"flesh," but "food," generally, and here it is applied to the flour of
wheat. The meat offerings were intended as a thankful acknowledgment
for the bounty of Providence; and hence, although meat offerings
accompanied some of the appointed sacrifices, those here described
being voluntary oblations, were offered alone.
pour oil upon it--Oil was used as butter is with us; symbolically it
meant the influences of the Spirit, of which oil was the emblem, as
incense was of prayer.
2. shall burn the memorial--rather, "for a memorial"; that is, a part
of it.
3. the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons'--The
circumstance of a portion of it being appropriated to the use of the
priests distinguishes this from a burnt offering. They alone were to
partake of it within the sacred precincts, as among "the most holy
things."
4. if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the
oven--generally a circular hole excavated in the floor, from one to
five feet deep, the sides of which are covered with hardened plaster,
on which cakes are baked of the form and thickness of pancakes. (See on
Ge 18:6). The shape of Eastern ovens varies considerably according to
the nomadic or settled habits of the people.
5. baken in a pan--a thin plate, generally of copper or iron, placed on
a slow fire, similar to what the country people in Scotland called a
"girdle" for baking oatmeal cakes.
6. part it in pieces, and pour oil thereon--Pouring oil on bread is a
common practice among Eastern people, who are fond of broken bread
dipped in oil, butter, and milk. Oil only was used in the meat
offerings, and probably for a symbolic reason. It is evident that these
meat offerings were previously prepared by the offerer, and when
brought, the priest was to take it from his hands and burn a portion on
the altar.
11. ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the
Lord--Nothing sweet or sour was to be offered. In the warm climates of
the East leavened bread soon spoils, and hence it was regarded as the
emblem of hypocrisy or corruption. Some, however, think that the
prohibition was that leaven and honey were used in the idolatrous rites
of the heathen.
12. the oblation of the first-fruits--voluntary offerings made by
individuals out of their increase, and leaven and honey might be used
with these (Le 23:17; Nu 15:20). Though presented at the altar, they
were not consumed, but assigned by God for the use of the priests.
13. every ... meat offering shalt thou season with salt--The same
reasons which led to the prohibition of leaven, recommended the use of
salt--if the one soon putrefies, the other possesses a strongly
preservative property, and hence it became an emblem of incorruption
and purity, as well as of a perpetual covenant--a perfect
reconciliation and lasting friendship. No injunction in the whole law
was more sacredly observed than this application of salt; for besides
other uses of it that will be noticed elsewhere, it had a typical
meaning referred to by our Lord concerning the effect of the Gospel on
those who embrace it (Mr 9:49, 50); as when plentifully applied it
preserves meat from spoiling, so will the Gospel keep men from being
corrupted by sin. And as salt was indispensable to render sacrifices
acceptable to God, so the Gospel, brought home to the hearts of men by
the Holy Ghost, is indispensably requisite to their offering up of
themselves as living sacrifices [Brown].
14. a meat offering of thy first-fruits--From the mention of "green
ears," this seems to have been a voluntary offering before the
harvest--the ears being prepared in the favorite way of Eastern people,
by parching them at the fire, and then beating them out for use. It was
designed to be an early tribute of pious thankfulness for the earth's
increase, and it was offered according to the usual directions.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 3
Le 3:1-17. The Peace Offering of the Herd.
1. if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering--"Peace" being used
in Scripture to denote prosperity and happiness generally, a peace
offering was a voluntary tribute of gratitude for health or other
benefits. In this view it was eucharistic, being a token of
thanksgiving for benefits already received, or it was sometimes votive,
presented in prayer for benefits wished for in the future.
of the herd--This kind of offering being of a festive character, either
male or female, if without blemish, might be used, as both of them were
equally good for food, and, if the circumstances of the offerer allowed
it, it might be a calf.
2. he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering--Having
performed this significant act, he killed it before the door of the
tabernacle, and the priests sprinkled the blood round about upon the
altar.
3. he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering--The peace
offering differed from the oblations formerly mentioned in this
respect: while the burnt offering was wholly consumed on the altar, and
the freewill offering was partly consumed and partly assigned to the
priests; in this offering the fat alone was burnt; only a small part
was allotted to the priests while the rest was granted to the offerer
and his friends, thus forming a sacred feast of which the Lord, His
priests, and people conjointly partook, and which was symbolical of the
spiritual feast, the sacred communion which, through Christ, the great
peace offering, believers enjoy. (See further on Le 19:5-8; 22:21).
the fat that covereth the inwards--that is, the web work that presents
itself first to the eye on opening the belly of a cow.
the fat ... upon the inwards--adhering to the intestines, but easily
removable from them; or, according to some, that which was next the
ventricle.
4-11. the two kidneys ... of the flock ... the whole rump--There is, in
Eastern countries, a species of sheep the tails of which are not less
than four feet and a half in length. These tails are of a substance
between fat and marrow. A sheep of this kind weighs sixty or seventy
English pounds weight, of which the tail usually weighs fifteen pounds
and upwards. This species is by far the most numerous in Arabia, Syria,
and Palestine, and, forming probably a large portion in the flocks of
the Israelites, it seems to have been the kind that usually bled on the
Jewish altars. The extraordinary size and deliciousness of their tails
give additional importance to this law. To command by an express law
the tail of a certain sheep to be offered in sacrifice to God, might
well surprise us; but the wonder ceases, when we are told of those
broad-tailed Eastern sheep, and of the extreme delicacy of that part
which was so particularly specified in the statute [Paxton].
12. if his offering be a goat--Whether this or any of the other two
animals were chosen, the same general directions were to be followed in
the ceremony of offering.
17. ye eat neither fat nor blood--The details given above distinctly
define the fat in animals which was not to be eaten, so that all the
rest, whatever adhered to other parts, or was intermixed with them,
might be used. The prohibition of blood rested on a different
foundation, being intended to preserve their reverence for the Messiah,
who was to shed His blood as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the
world [Brown].
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 4
Le 4:1, 2. Sin Offering of Ignorance.
2. If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the
commandments of the Lord--a soul--an individual. All sins may be
considered, in a certain sense, as committed "through ignorance,"
error, or misapprehension of one's true interests. The sins, however,
referred to in this law were unintentional violations of the ceremonial
laws,--breaches made through haste, or inadvertency of some negative
precepts, which, if done knowingly and wilfully, would have involved a
capital punishment.
do against any of them--To bring out the meaning, it is necessary to
supply, "he shall bring a sin offering."
Le 4:3-35. Sin Offering for the Priest.
3. If the priest that is anointed do sin--that is, the high priest, in
whom, considering his character as typical mediator, and his exalted
office, the people had the deepest interest; and whose transgression of
any part of the divine law, therefore, whether done unconsciously or
heedlessly, was a very serious offense, both as regarded himself
individually, and the influence of his example. He is the person
principally meant, though the common order of the priesthood was
included.
according to the sin of the people--that is, bring guilt on the people.
He was to take a young bullock (the age and sex being expressly
mentioned), and having killed it according to the form prescribed for
the burnt offerings, he was to take it into the holy place and sprinkle
the atoning blood seven times before the veil, and tip with the crimson
fluid the horns of the golden altar of incense, on his way to the court
of the priests,--a solemn ceremonial appointed only for very grave and
heinous offenses, and which betokened that his sin, though done in
ignorance, had vitiated all his services; nor could any official duty
he engaged in be beneficial either to himself or the people, unless it
were atoned for by blood.
11. the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh--In ordinary
circumstances, these were perquisites of the priests. But in the
expiation necessary for a sin of the high priest, after the fat of the
sacrifice was offered on the altar, the carcass was carried without the
camp [Le 4:12], in order that the total combustion of it in the place
of ashes might the more strikingly indicate the enormity of the
transgression, and the horror with which he regarded it (compare Heb
13:12, 13).
13-21. if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance--In
consequence of some culpable neglect or misapprehension of the law, the
people might contract national guilt, and then national expiation was
necessary. The same sacrifice was to be offered as in the former case,
but with this difference in the ceremonial, that the elders or heads of
the tribes, as representing the people and being the principal
aggressors in misleading the congregation, laid their hands on the head
of the victim. The priest then took the blood into the holy place,
where, after dipping his finger in it seven times, he sprinkled the
drops seven times before the veil. This done, he returned to the court
of the priests, and ascending the altar, put some portion upon its
horns; then he poured it out at the foot of the altar. The fat was the
only part of the animal which was offered on the altar; for the
carcass, with its appurtenances and offals, was carried without the
camp, into the place where the ashes were deposited, and there consumed
with fire.
22-26. When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance
against any of the commandments--Whatever was the form of government,
the king, judge, or subordinate, was the party concerned in this law.
The trespass of such a civil functionary being less serious in its
character and consequences than that either of the high priest or the
congregation, a sin offering of inferior value was required--"a kid of
the goats"; and neither was the blood carried into the sanctuary, but
applied only to the altar of burnt offering; nor was the carcass taken
without the camp; it was eaten by the priests-in-waiting.
27-34. if any one of the common people sin through ignorance--In this
case the expiatory offering appointed was a female kid, or a ewe-lamb
without blemish; and the ceremonies were exactly the same as those
observed in the case of the offending ruler [Le 4:22-26]. In these two
latter instances, the blood of the sin offering was applied to the
altar of burnt offering--the place where bloody sacrifices were
appointed to be immolated. But the transgression of a high priest, or
of the whole congregation, entailing a general taint on the ritual of
the tabernacle, and vitiating its services, required a further
expiation; and therefore, in these cases, the blood of the sin offering
was applied to the altar of incense [Le 4:6, 17].
35. it shall be forgiven him--None of these sacrifices possessed any
intrinsic value sufficient to free the conscience of the sinner from
the pollution of guilt, or to obtain his pardon from God; but they gave
a formal deliverance from a secular penalty (Heb 9:13, 14); and they
were figurative representations of the full and perfect sin offering
which was to be made by Christ.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 5
Le 5:1. Trespass Offerings for Concealing Knowledge.
1. if a soul ... hear the voice of swearing--or, according to some,
"the words of adjuration." A proclamation was issued calling any one
who could give information, to come before the court and bear testimony
to the guilt of a criminal; and the manner in which witnesses were
interrogated in the Jewish courts of justice was not by swearing them
directly, but adjuring them by reading the words of an oath: "the voice
of swearing." The offense, then, for the expiation of which this law
provides, was that of a person who neglected or avoided the opportunity
of lodging the information which it was in his power to communicate.
Le 5:2, 3. Touching Any Thing Unclean.
2. if a soul touch any unclean thing--A person who, unknown to himself
at the time, came in contact with any thing unclean, and either
neglected the requisite ceremonies of purification or engaged in the
services of religion while under the taint of ceremonial defilement,
might be afterwards convinced that he had committed an offense.
Le 5:4-19. For Swearing.
4. if a soul swear--a rash oath, without duly considering the nature
and consequences of the oath, perhaps inconsiderately binding himself
to do anything wrong, or neglecting to perform a vow to do something
good. In all such cases a person might have transgressed one of the
divine commandments unwittingly, and have been afterwards brought to a
sense of his delinquency.
5. it shall be, when he shall be guilty ... that he shall confess that
he hath sinned in that thing--make a voluntary acknowledgment of his
sin from the impulse of his own conscience, and before it come to the
knowledge of the world. A previous discovery might have subjected him
to some degree of punishment from which his spontaneous confession
released him, but still he was considered guilty of trespass, to
expiate which he was obliged by the ceremonial law to go through
certain observances.
6-14. he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord for his sins
which he hath sinned--A trespass offering differed from a sin offering
in the following respects: that it was appointed for persons who had
either done evil unwittingly, or were in doubt as to their own
criminality; or felt themselves in such a special situation as required
sacrifices of that kind [Brown]. The trespass offering appointed in
such cases was a female lamb or kid; if unable to make such an
offering, he might bring a pair of turtledoves or two young
pigeons--the one to be offered for a sin offering, the other for a
burnt offering; or if even that was beyond his ability, the law would
be satisfied with the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour without oil
or frankincense.
15, 16. sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord,
&c.--This is a case of sacrilege committed ignorantly, either in not
paying the full due of tithes, first-fruits, and similar tribute in
eating of meats, which belonged to the priests alone--or he was
required, along with the restitution in money, the amount of which was
to be determined by the priest, to offer a ram for a trespass offering,
as soon as he came to the knowledge of his involuntary fraud.
17-19. if a soul sin ... though he wist it not, yet is he guilty--This
also refers to holy things, and it differs from the preceding in being
one of the doubtful cases,--that is, where conscience suspects, though
the understanding be in doubt whether criminality or sin has been
committed. The Jewish rabbis give, as an example, the case of a person
who, knowing that "the fat of the inwards" is not to be eaten,
religiously abstained from the use of it; but should a dish happen to
have been at table in which he had reason to suspect some portion of
that meat was intermingled, and he had, inadvertently, partaken of that
unlawful viand, he was bound to bring a ram as a trespass offering [Le
5:16]. These provisions were all designed to impress the conscience
with the sense of responsibility to God and keep alive on the hearts of
the people a salutary fear of doing any secret wrong.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 6
Le 6:1-7. Trespass Offering for Sins Done Wittingly.
2-7. If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the Lord--This law,
the record of which should have been joined with the previous chapter,
was given concerning things stolen, fraudulently gotten, or wrongfully
kept. The offender was enjoined to make restitution of the articles to
the rightful owner, along with a fifth part out of his own possessions.
But it was not enough thus to repair the injury done to a neighbor and
to society; he was required to bring a trespass offering, as a token of
sorrow and penitence for having hurt the cause of religion and of God.
That trespass offering was a ram without blemish, which was to be made
on the altar of burnt offerings, and the flesh belonged to the priests.
This penalty was equivalent to a mitigated fine; but being associated
with a sacred duty, the form in which the fine was inflicted served the
important purpose of rousing attention to the claims and reviving a
sense of responsibility to God.
Le 6:8-13. The Law of the Burnt Offering.
9. Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This ... law of the burnt
offering--In this passage Moses received instructions to be delivered
to the priests respecting their official duties, and first the burnt
offering--Hebrew, "a sacrifice, which went up in smoke." The daily
service consisted of two lambs, one offered in the morning at sunrise,
the other in the evening, when the day began to decline. Both of them
were consumed on the altar by means of a slow fire, before which the
pieces of the sacrifice were so placed that they fed it all night. At
all events, the observance of this daily sacrifice on the altar of
burnt offering was a daily expression of national repentance and faith.
The fire that consumed these sacrifices had been kindled from heaven at
the consecration of the tabernacle [Le 9:24], and to keep it from being
extinguished and the sacrifices from being burned with common fire,
strict injunctions are here given respecting not only the removal of
the ashes [Le 6:10, 11], but the approaching near to the fireplace in
garments that were not officially "holy."
Le 6:14-18. The Law of the Meat Offering.
14-18. this is the law of the meat offering--Though this was a
provision for the priests and their families, it was to be regarded as
"most holy"; and the way in which it was prepared was: on any meat
offerings being presented, the priest carried them to the altar, and
taking a handful from each of them as an oblation, he salted and burnt
it on the altar; the residue became the property of the priests, and
was the food of those whose duty it was to attend on the service. They
themselves as well as the vessels from which they ate were typically
holy, and they were not at liberty to partake of the meat offering
while they labored under any ceremonial defilement.
Le 6:19-23. The High Priest's Meat Offering.
20. This is the offering of Aaron, and of his sons--the daily meat
offering of the high priest; for though his sons are mentioned along
with him, it was probably only those of his descendants who succeeded
him in that high office that are meant. It was to be offered, one half
of it in the morning and the other half in the evening--being daily
laid by the ministering priest on the altar of burnt offering, where,
being dedicated to God, it was wholly consumed. This was designed to
keep him and the other attendant priests in constant remembrance, that
though they were typically expiating the sins of the people, their own
persons and services could meet with acceptance only through faith,
which required to be daily nourished and strengthened from above.
Le 6:21-30. The Law of the Sin Offering.
25-28. This is the law of the sin offering--It was slain, and the fat
and inwards, after being washed and salted, were burnt upon the altar.
But the rest of the carcass belonged to the officiating priest. He and
his family might feast upon it--only, however, within the precincts of
the tabernacle; and none else were allowed to partake of it but the
members of a priestly family--and not even they, if under any
ceremonial defilement. The flesh on all occasions was boiled or sodden,
with the exception of the paschal lamb, which was roasted [Ex 12:8, 9];
and if an earthen vessel had been used, it being porous and likely to
imbibe some of the liquid particles, it was to be broken; if a metallic
pan had been used it was to be scoured and washed with the greatest
care, not because the vessels had been defiled, but the
reverse--because the flesh of the sin offering having been boiled in
them, those vessels were now too sacred for ordinary use. The design of
all these minute ceremonies was to impress the minds, both of priests
and people, with a sense of the evil nature of sin and the care they
should take to prevent the least taint of its impurities clinging to
them.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 7
Le 7:1-27. The Law of the Trespass Offering.
1. Likewise this is the law of the trespass offering--This chapter is a
continuation of the laws that were to regulate the duty of the priests
respecting the trespass offerings. The same regulations obtained in
this case as in the burnt offerings--part was to be consumed on the
altar, while the other part was a perquisite of the priests--some fell
exclusively to the officiating minister, and was the fee for his
services; others were the common share of all the priestly order, who
lived upon them as their provision, and whose meetings at a common
table would tend to promote brotherly harmony and friendship.
8. the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering
which he hath offered--All the flesh and the fat of the burnt offerings
being consumed, nothing remained to the priest but the skin. It has
been thought that this was a patriarchal usage, incorporated with the
Mosaic law, and that the right of the sacrificer to the skin of the
victim was transmitted from the example of Adam (see on Ge 3:21).
11-14. this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings--Besides the
usual accompaniments of other sacrifices, leavened bread was offered
with the peace offerings, as a thanksgiving, such bread being common at
feasts.
15-17. the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings ... shall be
eaten the same day that it is offered--The flesh of the sacrifices was
eaten on the day of the offering or on the day following. But if any
part of it remained till the third day, it was, instead of being made
use of, to be burned with fire. In the East, butcher-meat is generally
eaten the day it is killed, and it is rarely kept a second day, so that
as a prohibition was issued against any of the flesh in the peace
offerings being used on the third day, it has been thought, not without
reason, that this injunction must have been given to prevent a
superstitious notion arising that there was some virtue or holiness
belonging to it.
18. if any of the flesh of the sacrifice ... be eaten at all on the
third day, it shall not be accepted, neither ... imputed--The sacrifice
will not be acceptable to God nor profitable to him that offers it.
20. cut off from his people--that is, excluded from the privileges of
an Israelite--lie under a sentence of excommunication.
21. abominable unclean thing--Some copies of the Bible read, "any
reptile."
22-27. Ye shall eat no manner of fat--(See on Le 3:17).
Le 7:28-38. The Priests' Portion.
29-34. He that offereth the sacrifice of his peace offerings unto the
Lord--In order to show that the sacrifice was voluntary, the offerer
was required to bring it with his own hands to the priest. The breast
having been waved to and fro in a solemn manner as devoted to God, was
given to the priests; it was assigned to the use of their order
generally, but the right shoulder was the perquisite of the officiating
priest.
35-38. This is the portion of the anointing of Aaron--These verses
contain a general summing up of the laws which regulate the privileges
and duties of the priests. The word "anointing" is often used as
synonymous with "office" or "dignity." So that the "portion of the
anointing of Aaron" probably means the provision made for the
maintenance of the high priest and the numerous body of functionaries
which composed the sacerdotal order.
in the day when he presented them to minister unto the Lord, &c.--that
is, from the day they approached the Lord in the duties of their
ministry.
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CHAPTER 8
Le 8:1-36. Moses Consecrates Aaron and His Sons.
2. Take Aaron and his sons--The consecration of Aaron and his sons had
been ordered long before (Ex 29:1-46), but it is now described with all
the details of the ceremonial, as it was gone through after the
tabernacle was completed and the regulations for the various sacrifices
enacted.
3-5. gather thou all the congregation together, &c.--It was manifestly
expedient for the Israelitish people to be satisfied that Aaron's
appointment to the high dignity of the priesthood was not a personal
intrusion, nor a family arrangement between him and Moses; and nothing,
therefore, could be a more prudent or necessary measure, for impressing
a profound conviction of the divine origin and authority of the
priestly institution, than to summon a general assembly of the people,
and in their presence perform the solemn ceremonies of inauguration,
which had been prescribed by divine authority.
6. Moses ... washed them with water--At consecration they were
subjected to entire ablution, though on ordinary occasions they were
required, before entering on their duties, only to wash their hands and
feet. This symbolical ablution was designed to teach them the necessity
of inward purity, and the imperative obligation on those who bore the
vessels and conducted the services of the sanctuary to be holy.
7-9. he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle--The
splendor of the official vestments, together with the gorgeous tiara of
the high priest, was intended, doubtless, in the first instance, to
produce in the minds of the people a high respect for the ministers of
religion; and in the next, from the predominant use of linen, to
inculcate upon Aaron and his sons the duty of maintaining unspotted
righteousness in their characters and lives.
10-12. took the anointing oil, &c.--which was designed to intimate that
persons who acted as leaders in the solemn services of worship should
have the unction of the Holy One both in His gifts and graces.
14-17. brought the bullock for the sin offering, &c.--a timely
expression of their sense of unworthiness--a public and solemn
confession of their personal sins and a transference of their guilt to
the typical victim.
18-21. brought the ram, &c.--as a token of their entire dedication to
the service of God.
22-30. brought the other ram,--&c. After the sin offering and burnt
offering had been presented on their behalf, this was their peace
offering, by which they declared the pleasure which they felt in
entering upon the service of God and being brought into close communion
with Him as the ministers of His sanctuary, together with their
confident reliance on His grace to help them in all their sacred
duties.
33. ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation, &c.--After all these preliminaries, they had still to
undergo a week's probation in the court of the tabernacle before they
obtained permission to enter into the interior of the sacred building.
During the whole of that period the same sacrificial rites were
observed as on the first day, and they were expressly admonished that
the smallest breach of any of the appointed observances would lead to
the certain forfeiture of their lives [Le 8:35].
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CHAPTER 9
Le 9:1-24. The Priests' Entry into Office.
1-7. Moses called ... Take thee a young calf for a sin offering--The
directions in these sacred things were still given by Moses, the
circumstances being extraordinary. But he was only the medium of
communicating the divine will to the newly made priests. The first of
their official acts was the sacrifice of another sin offering to atone
for the defects of the inauguration services; and yet that sacrifice
did not consist of a bullock--the sacrifice appointed for some
particular transgression, but of a calf, perhaps not without a
significant reference to Aaron's sin in the golden calf [Ex 32:22-24].
Then followed a burnt offering, expressive of their voluntary and
entire self-devotement to the divine service. The newly consecrated
priests having done this on their own account, they were called to
offer a sin offering and burnt offering for the people, ending the
ceremonial by a peace offering, which was a sacred feast. This
injunction, "to make atonement for himself and for the people"
(Septuagint, "for thy family"), at the commencement of his sacred
functions, furnishes a striking evidence of the divine origin of the
Jewish system of worship. In all false or corrupt forms of religion,
the studied policy has been to inspire the people with an idea of the
sanctity of the priesthood as in point of purity and favor with the
Divinity far above the level of other men. But among the Hebrews the
priests were required to offer for the expiation of their own sins as
well as the humblest of the people. This imperfection of Aaron's
priesthood, however, does not extend to the gospel dispensation: for
our great High Priest, who has entered for us into "the true
tabernacle," "knew no sin" (Heb 10:10, 11).
8. Aaron ... went unto the altar, and slew the calf of the sin
offering--Whether it had been enjoined the first time, or was
unavoidable from the divisions of the priestly labor not being as yet
completely arranged, Aaron, assisted by his sons, appears to have slain
the victims with his own hands, as well as gone through all the
prescribed ritual at the altar.
17-21. meat offering ... wave offering--It is observable that there is
no notice taken of these in the offerings the priests made for
themselves. They could not bear their own sins: and therefore, instead
of eating any part of their own sin offering, as they were at liberty
to do in the case of the people's offering, they had to carry the whole
carcasses "without the camp and burn them with fire" [Ex 29:14; Le
4:12].
22. Aaron lifted up his hand ... and blessed them--The pronouncing of a
benediction on the people assembled in the court was a necessary part
of the high priest's duty, and the formula in which it was to be given
is described (Nu 6:23-27).
came down from offering--The altar was elevated above the level of the
floor, and the ascent was by a gentle slope (Ex 20:26).
23. Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle--Moses, according to the
divine instructions he had received, accompanied Aaron and his sons to
initiate them into their sacred duties. Their previous occupations had
detained them at the altar, and they now entered in company into the
sacred edifice to bear the blood of the offerings within the sanctuary.
the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people--perhaps in a
resplendent effulgence above the tabernacle as a fresh token of the
divine acceptance of that newly established seat of His worship.
24. there came a fire out from ... the Lord--A flame emanating from
that resplendent light that filled the holy place flashed upon the
brazen altar and kindled the sacrifices. This miraculous fire--for the
descent of which the people had probably been prepared, and which the
priests were enjoined never to let go out (Le 6:13)--was a sign, not
only of the acceptance of the offerings and of the establishment of
Aaron's authority, but of God's actual residence in that chosen
dwelling-place. The moment the solemn though welcome spectacle was
seen, a simultaneous shout of joy and gratitude burst from the
assembled congregation, and in the attitude of profoundest reverence
they worshipped "a present Deity."
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CHAPTER 10
Le 10:1-20. Nadab and Abihu Burnt.
1. the sons of Aaron, &c.--If this incident occurred at the solemn
period of the consecrating and dedicating the altar, these young men
assumed an office which had been committed to Moses; or if it were some
time after, it was an encroachment on duties which devolved on their
father alone as the high priest. But the offense was of a far more
aggravated nature than such a mere informality would imply. It
consisted not only in their venturing unauthorized to perform the
incense service--the highest and most solemn of the priestly
offices--not only in their engaging together in a work which was the
duty only of one, but in their presuming to intrude into the holy of
holies, to which access was denied to all but the high priest alone. In
this respect, "they offered strange fire before the Lord"; they were
guilty of a presumptuous and unwarranted intrusion into a sacred office
which did not belong to them. But their offense was more aggravated
still; for instead of taking the fire which was put into their censers
from the brazen altar, they seem to have been content with common fire
and thus perpetrated an act which, considering the descent of the
miraculous fire they had so recently witnessed and the solemn
obligation under which they were laid to make use of that which was
specially appropriated to the service of the altars, they betrayed a
carelessness, an irreverence, a want of faith, most surprising and
lamentable. A precedent of such evil tendency was dangerous, and it was
imperatively necessary, therefore, as well for the priests themselves
as for the sacred things, that a marked expression of the divine
displeasure should be given for doing that which "God commanded them
not."
2. there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them--rather,
"killed them"; for it appears (Le 10:5) that neither their bodies nor
their robes were consumed. The expression, "from the Lord," indicates
that this fire issued from the most holy place. In the destruction of
these two young priests by the infliction of an awful judgment, the
wisdom of God observed the same course, in repressing the first
instance of contempt for sacred things, as he did at the commencement
of the Christian dispensation (Ac 5:1-11).
3. Moses said ... This is it that the Lord spoke ... I will be
sanctified in them that come nigh me--"They that come nigh me," points,
in this passage, directly to the priests; and they had received
repeated and solemn warnings as to the cautious and reverent manner of
their approach into the divine presence (Ex 19:22; 29:44; Le 8:35).
Aaron held his peace--The loss of two sons in so sudden and awful a
manner was a calamity overwhelming to parental feelings. But the pious
priest indulged in no vehement ebullition of complaint and gave vent to
no murmur of discontent, but submitted in silent resignation to what he
saw was "the righteous judgment of God" [Ro 2:5].
4, 5. Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan--The removal of the two corpses
for burial without the camp would spread the painful intelligence
throughout all the congregation; and the remembrance of so appalling a
judgment could not fail to strike a salutary fear into the hearts both
of priests and people. The interment of the priestly vestments along
with Nadab and Abihu, was a sign of their being polluted by the sin of
their irreligious wearers.
6. Uncover not your heads--They who were ordered to carry out the two
bodies, being engaged in their sacred duties, were forbidden to remove
their turbans, in conformity with the usual customs of mourning; and
the prohibition "neither rend your garments," was, in all probability,
confined also to their official costume. For at other times the priests
wore the ordinary dress of their countrymen and, in common with their
families, might indulge their private feelings by the usual signs or
expressions of grief.
8-11. Do not drink wine nor strong drink--This prohibition, and the
accompanying admonitions, following immediately the occurrence of so
fatal a catastrophe [Le 10:1, 2], has given rise to an opinion
entertained by many, that the two disobedient priests were under the
influence of intoxication when they committed the offense which was
expiated only by their lives. But such an idea, though the presumption
is in its favor, is nothing more than conjecture.
12-15. Moses spake unto Aaron, &c.--This was a timely and considerate
rehearsal of the laws that regulated the conduct of the priests. Amid
the distractions of their family bereavement, Aaron and his surviving
sons might have forgotten or overlooked some of their duties.
16-20. Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering, and,
behold, it was burnt--In a sacrifice presented, as that had been, on
behalf of the people, it was the duty of the priests, as typically
representing them and bearing their sins, to have eaten the flesh after
the blood had been sprinkled upon the altar. Instead of using it,
however, for a sacred feast, they had burnt it without the camp; and
Moses, who discovered this departure from the prescribed ritual,
probably from a dread of some further chastisements, challenged, not
Aaron, whose heart was too much lacerated to bear a new cause of
distress but his two surviving sons in the priesthood for the great
irregularity. Their father, however, who heard the charge and by whose
directions the error had been committed, hastened to give the
explanation. The import of his apology is, that all the duty pertaining
to the presentation of the offering had been duly and sacredly
performed, except the festive part of the observance, which privately
devolved upon the priest and his family. And that this had been
omitted, either because his heart was too dejected to join in the
celebration of a cheerful feast, or that he supposed, from the
appalling judgments that had been inflicted, that all the services of
that occasion were so vitiated that he did not complete them. Aaron was
decidedly in the wrong. By the express command of God, the sin offering
was to be eaten in the holy place; and no fanciful view of expediency
or propriety ought to have led him to dispense at discretion with a
positive statute. The law of God was clear and, where that is the case,
it is sin to deviate a hair's breadth from the path of duty. But Moses
sympathized with his deeply afflicted brother and, having pointed out
the error, said no more.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 11
Le 11:1-47. Beasts That May and May Not Be Eaten.
1, 2. the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron--These laws, being
addressed to both the civil and ecclesiastical rulers in Israel, may
serve to indicate the twofold view that is to be taken of them.
Undoubtedly the first and strongest reason for instituting a
distinction among meats was to discourage the Israelites from spreading
into other countries, and from general intercourse with the world--to
prevent them acquiring familiarity with the inhabitants of the
countries bordering on Canaan, so as to fall into their idolatries or
be contaminated with their vices: in short, to keep them a distinct and
peculiar people. To this purpose, no difference of creed, no system of
polity, no diversity of language or manner, was so subservient as a
distinction of meats founded on religion; and hence the Jews, who were
taught by education to abhor many articles of food freely partaken of
by other people, never, even during periods of great degeneracy, could
amalgamate with the nations among which they were dispersed. But
although this was the principal foundation of these laws, dietetic
reasons also had weight; for there is no doubt that the flesh of many
of the animals here ranked as unclean, is everywhere, but especially in
warm climates, less wholesome and adapted for food than those which
were allowed to be eaten. These laws, therefore, being subservient to
sanitary as well as religious ends, were addressed both to Moses and
Aaron.
3-7. Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and cheweth the
cud--Ruminating animals by the peculiar structure of their stomachs
digest their food more fully than others. It is found that in the act
of chewing the cud, a large portion of the poisonous properties of
noxious plants eaten by them, passes off by the salivary glands. This
power of secreting the poisonous effects of vegetables, is said to be
particularly remarkable in cows and goats, whose mouths are often sore,
and sometimes bleed, in consequence. Their flesh is therefore in a
better state for food, as it contains more of the nutritious juices, is
more easily digested in the human stomach, and is consequently more
easily assimilated. Animals which do not chew the cud, convert their
food less perfectly; their flesh is therefore unwholesome, from the
gross animal juices with which they abound, and is apt to produce
scorbutic and scrofulous disorders. But the animals that may be eaten
are those which "part the hoof as well as chew the cud," and this is
another means of freeing the flesh of the animal from noxious
substances. "In the case of animals with parted hoofs, when feeding in
unfavorable situations a prodigious amount of foetid matter is
discharged, and passes off between the toes; while animals with
undivided hoofs, feeding on the same ground, become severely affected
in the legs, from the poisonous plants among the pasture" [Whitlaw,
Code of Health]. All experience attests this, and accordingly the use
of ruminating animals (that is, those which both chew the cud and part
the hoof) has always obtained in most countries though it was observed
most carefully by the people who were favored with the promulgation of
God's law.
4. the camel--It does to a certain extent divide the hoof, for the foot
consists of two large parts, but the division is not complete; the toes
rest upon an elastic pad on which the animal goes; as a beast of burden
its flesh is tough. An additional reason for its prohibition might be
to keep the Israelites apart from the descendants of Ishmael.
5. the coney--not the rabbit, for it is not found in Palestine or
Arabia, but the hyrax, a little animal of the size and general shape of
the rabbit, but differing from it in several essential features. It has
no tail, singular, long hairs bristling like thorns among the fur on
its back; its feet are bare, its nails flat and round, except those on
each inner toe of the hind feet, which are sharp and project like an
awl. It does not burrow in the ground but frequents the clefts of
rocks.
6. the hare--Two species of hare must have been pointed at: the Sinai
hare, the hare of the desert, small and generally brown; the other, the
hare of Palestine and Syria, about the size and appearance of that
known in our own country. Neither the hare nor the coney are really
ruminating. They only appear to be so from working the jaws on the
grasses they live on. They are not cloven-footed; and besides, it is
said that from the great quantity of down upon them, they are very much
subject to vermin--that in order to expel these, they eat poisonous
plants, and if used as food while in that state, they are most
deleterious [Whitlaw].
7. the swine--It is a filthy, foul-feeding animal, and it lacks one of
the natural provisions for purifying the system, "it cheweth not the
cud"; in hot climates indulgence in swine's flesh is particularly
liable to produce leprosy, scurvy, and various cutaneous eruptions. It
was therefore strictly avoided by the Israelites. Its prohibition was
further necessary to prevent their adopting many of the grossest
idolatries practised by neighboring nations.
9. These shall ye eat ... whatsoever hath fins and scales--"The fins
and scales are the means by which the excrescences of fish are carried
off, the same as in animals by perspiration. I have never known an
instance of disease produced by eating such fish; but those that have
no fins and scales cause, in hot climates, the most malignant disorders
when eaten; in many cases they prove a mortal poison" [Whitlaw].
12. Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales, &c.--Under this classification
frogs, eels, shellfish of all descriptions, were included as unclean;
"many of the latter (shellfish) enjoy a reputation they do not deserve,
and have, when plentifully partaken of, produced effects which have led
to a suspicion of their containing something of a poisonous nature."
13-19. these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the
fowls--All birds of prey are particularly ranked in the class unclean;
all those which feed on flesh and carrion. No less than twenty species
of birds, all probably then known, are mentioned under this category,
and the inference follows that all which are not mentioned were
allowed; that is, fowls which subsist on vegetable substances. From our
imperfect knowledge of the natural history of Palestine, Arabia, and
the contiguous countries at that time, it is not easy to determine
exactly what some of the prohibited birds were; although they must have
been all well known among the people to whom these laws were given.
the ossifrage--Hebrew, "bone-breaker," rendered in the Septuagint
"griffon," supposed to be the Gypoetos barbatus, the Lammer Geyer of
the Swiss--a bird of the eagle or vulture species, inhabiting the
highest mountain ranges in Western Asia as well as Europe. It pursues
as its prey the chamois, ibex, or marmot, among rugged cliffs, till it
drives them over a precipice--thus obtaining the name of
"bone-breaker."
the ospray--the black eagle, among the smallest, but swiftest and
strongest of its kind.
14. the vulture--The word so rendered in our version means more
probably "the kite" or "glede" and describes a varying but majestic
flight, exactly that of the kite, which now darts forward with the
rapidity of an arrow, now rests motionless on its expanded wings in the
air. It feeds on small birds, insects, and fish.
the kite--the vulture. In Egypt and perhaps in the adjoining countries
also, the kite and vulture are often seen together flying in company,
or busily pursuing their foul but important office of devouring the
carrion and relics of putrefying flesh, which might otherwise pollute
the atmosphere.
after his kind--that is, the prohibition against eating it extended to
the whole species.
15. the raven--including the crow, the pie.
16. the owl--It is generally supposed the ostrich is denoted by the
original word.
the nighthawk--a very small bird, with which, from its nocturnal
habits, many superstitious ideas were associated.
the cuckoo--Evidently some other bird is meant by the original term,
from its being ranged among rapacious birds. Dr. Shaw thinks it is the
safsaf; but that, being a graminivorous and gregarious bird, is equally
objectionable. Others think that the sea mew, or some of the small sea
fowl, is intended.
the hawk--The Hebrew word includes every variety of the falcon
family--as the goshawk, the jerhawk, the sparrow hawk, &c. Several
species of hawks are found in Western Asia and Egypt, where they find
inexhaustible prey in the immense numbers of pigeons and turtledoves
that abound in those quarters. The hawk was held pre-eminently sacred
among the Egyptians; and this, besides its rapacious disposition and
gross habits, might have been a strong reason for its prohibition as an
article of food to the Israelites.
17. the little owl--or horned owl, as some render it. The common barn
owl, which is well known in the East. It is the only bird of its kind
here referred to, although the word is thrice mentioned in our version.
cormorant--supposed to be the gull. [See on De 14:17.]
the great owl--according to some, the Ibis of the Egyptians. It was
well known to the Israelites, and so rendered by the Septuagint (De
14:16; Isa 34:11): according to Parkhurst, the bittern, but not
determined.
18. the swan--found in great numbers in all the countries of the
Levant. It frequents marshy places--the vicinity of rivers and lakes.
It was held sacred by the Egyptians, and kept tame within the precincts
of heathen temples. It was probably on this account chiefly that its
use as food was prohibited. Michaelis considers it the goose.
the pelican--remarkable for the bag or pouch under its lower jaw which
serves not only as a net to catch, but also as a receptacle of food. It
is solitary in its habits and, like other large aquatic birds, often
flies to a great distance from its favorite haunts.
the gier eagle--Being here associated with waterfowl, it has been
questioned whether any species of eagle is referred to. Some think, as
the original name racham denotes "tenderness," "affection," the halcyon
or kingfisher is intended [Calmet]. Others think that it is the bird
now called the rachami, a kind of Egyptian vulture, abundant in the
streets of Cairo and popularly called "Pharaoh's fowl." It is white in
color, in size like a raven, and feeds on carrion; it is one of the
foulest and filthiest birds in the world. [See on De 14:17.]
19. the stork--a bird of benevolent temper and held in the highest
estimation in all Eastern countries; it was declared unclean, probably,
from its feeding on serpents and other venomous reptiles, as well as
rearing its young on the same food.
the heron--The word so translated only occurs in the prohibited list of
food and has been variously rendered--the crane, the plover, the
woodcock, the parrot. In this great diversity of opinion nothing
certain can be affirmed regarding it. Judging from the group with which
it is classified, it must be an aquatic bird that is meant. It may as
well be the heron as any other bird, the more especially as herons
abound in Egypt and in the Hauran of Palestine.
the lapwing--or hoopoe; found in warm regions, a very pretty but filthy
species of bird. It was considered unclean, probably from its feeding
on insects, worms, and snails.
the bat--the great or Ternat bat, known in the East, noted for its
voracity and filthiness.
20. All fowls that creep, &c.--By "fowls" here are to be understood all
creatures with wings and "going upon all fours," not a restriction to
animals which have exactly four feet, because many "creeping things"
have more than that number. The prohibition is regarded generally as
extending to insects, reptiles, and worms.
21, 22. Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth
upon all four, which have legs above their feet--Nothing short of a
scientific description could convey more accurately the nature "of the
locust after its kind." They were allowed as lawful food to the
Israelites, and they are eaten by the Arabs, who fry them in olive oil.
When sprinkled with salt, dried, smoked, and fried, they are said to
taste not unlike red herrings.
26. every beast ... not cloven-footed--The prohibited animals under
this description include not only the beasts which have a single hoof,
as horses and asses, but those also which divided the foot into paws,
as lions, tigers, &c.
29. the weasel--rather, the mole.
the mouse--From its diminutive size it is placed among the reptiles
instead of the quadrupeds.
the tortoise--a lizard, resembling very nearly in shape, and in the
hard pointed scales of the tail, the shaketail.
30. the ferret--the Hebrew word is thought by some to signify the newt
or chameleon, by others the frog.
the chameleon--called by the Arabs the warral, a green lizard.
the snail--a lizard which lives in the sand, and is called by the Arabs
chulca, of an azure color.
the mole--Another species of lizard is meant, probably the chameleon.
31-35. whosoever doth touch them, when ... dead, shall be unclean until
the even--These regulations must have often caused annoyance by
suddenly requiring the exclusion of people from society, as well as the
ordinances of religion. Nevertheless they were extremely useful and
salutary, especially as enforcing attention to cleanliness. This is a
matter of essential importance in the East, where venomous reptiles
often creep into houses and are found lurking in boxes, vessels, or
holes in the wall; and the carcass of one of them, or a dead mouse,
mole, lizard, or other unclean animal, might be inadvertently touched
by the hand, or fall on clothes, skin bottles, or any article of common
domestic use. By connecting, therefore, the touch of such creatures
with ceremonial defilement, which required immediately to be removed,
an effectual means was taken to prevent the bad effects of venom and
all unclean or noxious matter.
47. make a difference between the unclean and the clean--that is,
between animals used and not used for food. It is probable that the
laws contained in this chapter were not entirely new, but only gave the
sanction of divine enactment to ancient usages. Some of the prohibited
animals have, on physiological grounds, been everywhere rejected by the
general sense or experience of mankind; while others may have been
declared unclean from their unwholesomeness in warm countries or from
some reasons, which are now imperfectly known, connected with
contemporary idolatry.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 12
Le 12:1-8. Woman's Uncleanness by Childbirth.
2. If a woman, &c.--The mother of a boy was ceremonially unclean for a
week, at the end of which the child was circumcised (Ge 17:12; Ro
4:11-13); the mother of a girl for two weeks (Le 12:5)--a stigma on the
sex (1Ti 2:14, 15) for sin, which was removed by Christ; everyone who
came near her during that time contracted a similar defilement. After
these periods, visitors might approach her though she was still
excluded from the public ordinances of religion [Le 12:4].
6-8. the days of her purifying--Though the occasion was of a festive
character, yet the sacrifices appointed were not a peace offering, but
a burnt offering and sin offering, in order to impress the mind of the
parent with recollections of the origin of sin, and that the child
inherited a fallen and sinful nature. The offerings were to be
presented the day after the period of her separation had ended--that
is, forty-first for a boy, eighty-first for a girl.
8. bring two turtles, &c.--(See on Le 5:6). This was the offering made
by Mary, the mother of Jesus, and it affords an incontestable proof of
the poor and humble condition of the family (Lu 2:22-24).
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CHAPTER 13
Le 13:1-59. The Laws and Tokens in Discerning Leprosy.
2. When a man shall have in the skin, &c.--The fact of the following
rules for distinguishing the plague of leprosy being incorporated with
the Hebrew code of laws, proves the existence of the odious disease
among that people. But a short time, little more than a year (if so
long a period had elapsed since the exodus) when symptoms of leprosy
seem extensively to have appeared among them; and as they could not be
very liable to such a cutaneous disorder amid their active journeyings
and in the dry open air of Arabia, the seeds of the disorder must have
been laid in Egypt, where it has always been endemic. There is every
reason to believe that this was the case: that the leprosy was not a
family complaint, hereditary among the Hebrews, but that they got it
from intercourse with the Egyptians and from the unfavorable
circumstances of their condition in the house of bondage. The great
excitement and irritability of the skin in the hot and sandy regions of
the East produce a far greater predisposition to leprosy of all kinds
than in cooler temperatures; and cracks or blotches, inflammations or
even contusions of the skin, very often lead to these in Arabia and
Palestine, to some extent, but particularly in Egypt. Besides, the
subjugated and distressed state of the Hebrews in the latter country,
and the nature of their employment, must have rendered them very liable
to this as well as to various other blemishes and misaffections of the
skin; in the production of which there are no causes more active or
powerful than a depressed state of body and mind, hard labor under a
burning sun, the body constantly covered with the excoriating dust of
brick fields, and an impoverished diet--to all of which the Israelites
were exposed while under the Egyptian bondage. It appears that, in
consequence of these hardships, there was, even after they had left
Egypt, a general predisposition among the Hebrews to the contagious
forms of leprosy--so that it often occurred as a consequence of various
other affections of the skin. And hence all cutaneous blemishes or
blains--especially such as had a tendency to terminate in leprosy--were
watched with a jealous eye from the first [Good, Study of Medicine]. A
swelling, a pimple, or bright spot on the skin, created a strong ground
of suspicion of a man's being attacked by the dreaded disease.
then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, &c.--Like the Egyptian
priests, the Levites united the character of physician with that of the
sacred office; and on the appearance of any suspicious eruptions on the
skin, the person having these was brought before the priest--not,
however, to receive medical treatment, though it is not improbable that
some purifying remedies might be prescribed, but to be examined with a
view to those sanitary precautions which it belonged to legislation to
adopt.
3-6. the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh,
&c.--The leprosy, as covering the person with a white, scaly scurf, has
always been accounted an offensive blemish rather than a serious malady
in the East, unless when it assumed its less common and malignant
forms. When a Hebrew priest, after a careful inspection, discovered
under the cutaneous blemish the distinctive signs of contagious
leprosy, the person was immediately pronounced unclean, and is supposed
to have been sent out of the camp to a lazaretto provided for that
purpose. If the symptoms appeared to be doubtful, he ordered the person
to be kept in domestic confinement for seven days, when he was
subjected to a second examination; and if during the previous week the
eruption had subsided or appeared to be harmless, he was instantly
discharged. But if the eruption continued unabated and still doubtful,
he was put under surveillance another week; at the end of which the
character of the disorder never failed to manifest itself, and he was
either doomed to perpetual exclusion from society or allowed to go at
large. A person who had thus been detained on suspicion, when at length
set at liberty, was obliged to "wash his clothes," as having been
tainted by ceremonial pollution; and the purification through which he
was required to go was, in the spirit of the Mosaic dispensation,
symbolical of that inward purity it was instituted to promote.
7, 8. But if the scab spread much abroad in the skin--Those doubtful
cases, when they assumed a malignant character, appeared in one of two
forms, apparently according to the particular constitution of the skin
or of the habit generally. The one was "somewhat dark" [Le 13:6]--that
is, the obscure or dusky leprosy, in which the natural color of the
hair (which in Egypt and Palestine is black) is not changed, as is
repeatedly said in the sacred code, nor is there any depression in the
dusky spot, while the patches, instead of keeping stationary to their
first size, are perpetually enlarging their boundary. The patient
laboring under this form was pronounced unclean by the Hebrew priest or
physician, and hereby sentenced to a separation from his family and
friends--a decisive proof of its being contagious.
9-37. if the rising be white--This BRIGHT WHITE leprosy is the most
malignant and inveterate of all the varieties the disease exhibits, and
it was marked by the following distinctive signs: A glossy white and
spreading scale, upon an elevated base, the elevation depressed in the
middle, but without a change of color; the black hair on the patches
participating in the whiteness, and the scaly patches themselves
perpetually enlarging their boundary. Several of these characteristics,
taken separately, belong to other blemishes of the skin as well; so
that none of them was to be taken alone, and it was only when the whole
of them concurred that the Jewish priest, in his capacity of physician,
was to pronounce the disease a malignant leprosy. If it spread over the
entire frame without producing any ulceration, it lost its contagious
power by degrees; or, in other words, it ran through its course and
exhausted itself. In that case, there being no longer any fear of
further evil, either to the individual himself or to the community, the
patient was declared clean by the priest, while the dry scales were yet
upon him, and restored to society. If, on the contrary, the patches
ulcerated and quick or fungous flesh sprang up in them, the purulent
matter of which, if brought into contact with the skin of other
persons, would be taken into the constitution by means of absorbent
vessels, the priest was at once to pronounce it an inveterate leprosy.
A temporary confinement was them declared to be totally unnecessary,
and he was regarded as unclean for life [Dr. Good]. Other skin
affections, which had a tendency to terminate in leprosy, though they
were not decided symptoms when alone, were: "a boil" (Le 13:18-23); "a
hot burning,"--that is, a fiery inflammation or carbuncle (Le
13:24-28); and "a dry scall" (Le 13:29-37), when the leprosy was
distinguished by being deeper than the skin and the hair became thin
and yellow.
38, 39. If a man ... or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright
spots--This modification of the leprosy is distinguished by a dull
white color, and it is entirely a cutaneous disorder, never injuring
the constitution. It is described as not penetrating below the skin of
the flesh and as not rendering necessary an exclusion from society. It
is evident, then, that this common form of leprosy is not contagious;
otherwise Moses would have prescribed as strict a quarantine in this as
in the other cases. And hereby we see the great superiority of the
Mosaic law (which so accurately distinguished the characteristics of
the leprosy and preserved to society the services of those who were
laboring under the uncontagious forms of the disease) over the customs
and regulations of Eastern countries in the present day, where all
lepers are indiscriminately proscribed and are avoided as unfit for
free intercourse with their fellow men.
40, 41. bald ... forehead bald--The falling off of the hair, when the
baldness commences in the back part of the head, is another symptom
which creates a suspicion of leprosy. But it was not of itself a
decisive sign unless taken in connection with other tokens, such as a
"sore of a reddish white color" [Le 13:43]. The Hebrews as well as
other Orientals were accustomed to distinguish between the forehead
baldness, which might be natural, and that baldness which might be the
consequence of disease.
45. the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent,
&c.--The person who was declared affected with the leprosy forthwith
exhibited all the tokens of suffering from a heavy calamity. Rending
garments and uncovering the head were common signs of mourning. As to
"the putting a covering upon the upper lip," that means either wearing
a moustache, as the Hebrews used to shave the upper lip [Calmet], or
simply keeping a hand over it. All these external marks of grief were
intended to proclaim, in addition to his own exclamation "Unclean!"
that the person was a leper, whose company every one must shun.
46. he shall dwell alone; without the camp--in a lazaretto by himself,
or associated with other lepers (2Ki 7:3, 8).
47-59. The garment ... that the ... leprosy is in--It is well known
that infectious diseases, such as scarlet fever, measles, the plague,
are latently imbibed and carried by the clothes. But the language of
this passage clearly indicates a disease to which clothes themselves
were subject, and which was followed by effects on them analogous to
those which malignant leprosy produces on the human body--for similar
regulations were made for the rigid inspection of suspected garments by
a priest as for the examination of a leprous person. It has long been
conjectured and recently ascertained by the use of a lens, that the
leprous condition of swine is produced by myriads of minute insects
engendered in their skin; and regarding all leprosy as of the same
nature, it is thought that this affords a sufficient reason for the
injunction in the Mosaic law to destroy the clothes in which the
disease, after careful observation, seemed to manifest itself. Clothes
are sometimes seen contaminated by this disease in the West Indies and
the southern parts of America [Whitlaw, Code of Health]; and it may be
presumed that, as the Hebrews were living in the desert where they had
not the convenience of frequent changes and washing, the clothes they
wore and the skin mats on which they lay, would be apt to breed
infectious vermin, which, being settled in the stuff, would
imperceptibly gnaw it and leave stains similar to those described by
Moses. It is well known that the wool of sheep dying of disease, if it
had not been shorn from the animal while living, and also skins, if not
thoroughly prepared by scouring, are liable to the effects described in
this passage. The stains are described as of a greenish or reddish
color, according, perhaps, to the color or nature of the ingredients
used in preparing them; for acids convert blue vegetable colors into
red and alkalis change then into green [Brown]. It appears, then, that
the leprosy, though sometimes inflicted as a miraculous judgment (Nu
12:10; 2Ki 5:27) was a natural disease, which is known in Eastern
countries still; while the rules prescribed by the Hebrew legislator
for distinguishing the true character and varieties of the disease and
which are far superior to the method of treatment now followed in those
regions, show the divine wisdom by which he was guided. Doubtless the
origin of the disease is owing to some latent causes in nature; and
perhaps a more extended acquaintance with the archæology of Egypt and
the natural history of the adjacent countries, may confirm the opinion
that leprosy results from noxious insects or a putrid fermentation. But
whatever the origin or cause of the disease, the laws enacted by divine
authority regarding it, while they pointed in the first instance to
sanitary ends, were at the same time intended, by stimulating to
carefulness against ceremonial defilement, to foster a spirit of
religious fear and inward purity.
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CHAPTER 14
Le 14:1-57. The Rites and Sacrifices in Cleansing of the Leper.
2, 3. law of the leper in the day of his cleansing--Though quite
convalescent, a leper was not allowed to return to society immediately
and at his own will. The malignant character of his disease rendered
the greatest precautions necessary to his re-admission among the
people. One of the priests most skilled in the diagnostics of disease
[Grotius], being deputed to attend such outcasts, the restored leper
appeared before this official, and when after examination a certificate
of health was given, the ceremonies here described were forthwith
observed outside the camp.
4. two birds--literally, "sparrows." The Septuagint, however, renders
the expression "little birds"; and it is evident that it is to be taken
in this generic sense from their being specified as "clean"--a
condition which would have been altogether superfluous to mention in
reference to sparrows. In all the offerings prescribed in the law,
Moses ordered only common and accessible birds; and hence we may
presume that he points here to such birds as sparrows or pigeons, as in
the desert it might have been very difficult to procure wild birds
alive.
cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop--The cedar here meant was certainly
not the famous tree of Lebanon, and it is generally supposed to have
been the juniper, as several varieties of that shrub are found growing
abundantly in the clefts and crevices of the Sinaitic mountains. A
stick of this shrub was bound to a bunch of hyssop by a scarlet ribbon,
and the living bird was to be so attached to it, that when they dipped
the branches in the water, the tail of the bird might also be
moistened, but not the head nor the wings, that it might not be impeded
in its flight when let loose.
5-9. the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed ... over
running water--As the blood of a single bird would not have been
sufficient to immerse the body of another bird, it was mingled with
spring water to increase the quantity necessary for the appointed
sprinklings, which were to be repeated seven times, denoting a complete
purification. (See 2Ki 5:10; Ps 51:2; Mt 8:4; Lu 5:14). The living bird
being then set free, in token of the leper's release from quarantine,
the priest pronounced him clean; and this official declaration was made
with all solemnity, in order that the mind of the leper might be duly
impressed with a sense of the divine goodness, and that others might be
satisfied they might safely hold intercourse with him. Several other
purifications had to be gone through during a series of seven days, and
the whole process had to be repeated on the seventh, ere he was allowed
to re-enter the camp. The circumstance of a priest being employed seems
to imply that instruction suitable to the newly recovered leper would
be given, and that the symbolical ceremonies used in the process of
cleansing leprosy would be explained. How far they were then understood
we cannot tell. But we can trace some instructive analogies between the
leprosy and the disease of sin, and between the rites observed in the
process of cleansing leprosy and the provisions of the Gospel. The
chief of these analogies is that as it was only when a leper exhibited
a certain change of state that orders were given by the priest for a
sacrifice, so a sinner must be in the exercise of faith and penitence
ere the benefits of the gospel remedy can be enjoyed by him. The slain
bird and the bird let loose are supposed to typify, the one the death,
and the other the resurrection of Christ; while the sprinklings on him
that had been leprous typified the requirements which led a believer to
cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and to
perfect his holiness in the fear of the Lord.
10-20. on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish,
and one ewe-lamb of the first year without blemish--The purification of
the leper was not completed till at the end of seven days, after the
ceremonial of the birds [Le 14:4-7] and during which, though permitted
to come into the camp, he had to tarry abroad out of his tent [Le
14:8], from which he came daily to appear at the door of the tabernacle
with the offerings required. He was presented before the Lord by the
priest that made him clean. And hence it has always been reckoned among
pious people the first duty of a patient newly restored from a long and
dangerous sickness to repair to the church to offer his thanksgiving,
where his body and soul, in order to be an acceptable offering, must be
presented by our great Priest, whose blood alone makes any clean. The
offering was to consist of two lambs, the one was to be a sin offering,
and an ephah of fine flour (two pints equals one-tenth), and one log
(half pint) of oil (Le 2:1). One of the lambs was for a trespass
offering, which was necessary from the inherent sin of his nature or
from his defilement of the camp by his leprosy previous to his
expulsion; and it is remarkable that the blood of the trespass offering
was applied exactly in the same particular manner to the extremities of
the restored leper, as that of the ram in the consecration of the
priests [Le 8:23]. The parts sprinkled with this blood were then
anointed with oil--a ceremony which is supposed to have borne this
spiritual import: that while the blood was a token of forgiveness, the
oil was an emblem of healing--as the blood of Christ justifies, the
influence of the Spirit sanctifies. Of the other two lambs the one was
to be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering, which had also the
character of a thank offering for God's mercy in his restoration. And
this was considered to make atonement "for him"; that is, it removed
that ceremonial pollution which had excluded him from the enjoyment of
religious ordinances, just as the atonement of Christ restores all who
are cleansed through faith in His sacrifice to the privileges of the
children of God.
21-32. if he be poor, and cannot get so much; then he shall take one
lamb--a kind and considerate provision for an extension of the
privilege to lepers of the poorer class. The blood of their smaller
offering was to be applied in the same process of purification and they
were as publicly and completely cleansed as those who brought a
costlier offering (Ac 10:34).
34-48. leprosy in a house--This law was prospective, not to come into
operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words,
"I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a
judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others
do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to
represent God as doing that which He only permits in His providence to
be done. Assuming it to have been a natural disease, a new difficulty
arises as to whether we are to consider that the house had become
infected by the contagion of leprous occupiers; or that the leprosy was
in the house itself. It is evident that the latter was the true state
of the case, from the furniture being removed out of it on the first
suspicion of disease on the walls. Some have supposed that the name of
leprosy was analogically applied to it by the Hebrews, as we speak of
cancer in trees when they exhibit corrosive effects similar to what the
disease so named produces on the human body; while others have
pronounced it a mural efflorescence or species of mildew on the wall
apt to be produced in very damp situations, and which was followed by
effects so injurious to health as well as to the stability of a house,
particularly in warm countries, as to demand the attention of a
legislator. Moses enjoined the priests to follow the same course and
during the same period of time for ascertaining the true character of
this disease as in human leprosy. If found leprous, the infected parts
were to be removed. If afterwards there appeared a risk of the
contagion spreading, the house was to be destroyed altogether and the
materials removed to a distance. The stones were probably rough, unhewn
stones, built up without cement in the manner now frequently used in
fences and plastered over, or else laid in mortar. The oldest examples
of architecture are of this character. The very same thing has to be
done still with houses infected with mural salt. The stones covered
with the nitrous incrustation must be removed, and if the infected wall
is suffered to remain, it must be plastered all over anew.
48-57. the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague
is healed--The precautions here described show that there is great
danger in warm countries from the house leprosy, which was likely to be
increased by the smallness and rude architecture of the houses in the
early ages of the Israelitish history. As a house could not contract
any impurity in the sight of God, the "atonement" which the priest was
to make for it must either have a reference to the sins of its
occupants or to the ceremonial process appointed for its purification,
the very same as that observed for a leprous person. This solemn
declaration that it was "clean," as well as the offering made on the
occasion, was admirably calculated to make known the fact, to remove
apprehension from the public mind, as well as relieve the owner from
the aching suspicion of dwelling in an infected house.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 15
Le 15:1-18. Uncleanness of Men.
2. When any man hath a running issue--This chapter describes other
forms of uncleanness, the nature of which is sufficiently intelligible
in the text without any explanatory comment. Being the effects of
licentiousness, they properly come within the notice of the legislator,
and the very stringent rules here prescribed, both for the separation
of the person diseased and for avoiding contamination from anything
connected with him, were well calculated not only to prevent contagion,
but to discourage the excesses of licentious indulgence.
9. what saddle ... he rideth upon that hath the issue shall be
unclean--(See on Ge 31:34).
12. the vessel of earth, that he toucheth which hath the issue, shall
be broken--It is thought that the pottery of the Israelites, like the
earthenware jars in which the Egyptians kept their water, was unglazed
and consequently porous, and that it was its porousness which,
rendering it extremely liable to imbibe small particles of impure
matter, was the reason why the vessel touched by an unclean person was
ordered to be broken.
13, 14. then he shall number to himself seven days for his
cleansing--Like a leprous person he underwent a week's probation, to
make sure he was completely healed. Then with the sacrifices
prescribed, the priest made an atonement for him, that is, offered the
oblations necessary for the removal of his ceremonial defilement, as
well as the typical pardon of his sins.
Le 15:19-33. Uncleanness of Women.
19. if a woman have an issue--Though this, like the leprosy, might be a
natural affection, it was anciently considered contagious and entailed
a ceremonial defilement which typified a moral impurity. This
ceremonial defilement had to be removed by an appointed method of
ceremonial expiation, and the neglect of it subjected any one to the
guilt of defiling the tabernacle, and to death as the penalty of
profane temerity.
31-33. Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their
uncleanness--The divine wisdom was manifested in inspiring the
Israelites with a profound reverence for holy things; and nothing was
more suited to this purpose than to debar from the tabernacle all who
were polluted by any kind of uncleanness, ceremonial as well as
natural, mental as well as physical. The better to mark out that people
as His family, His servants and priests, dwelling in the camp as in a
holy place, consecrated by His presence and His tabernacle, He required
of them complete purity, and did not allow them to come before Him when
defiled, even by involuntary or secret impurities, as a want of respect
due to His majesty. And when we bear in mind that God was training a
people to live in His presence in some measure as priests devoted to
His service, we shall not consider these rules for the maintenance of
personal purity either too stringent or too minute (1Th 4:4).
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 16
Le 16:1-34. How the High Priest Must Enter into the Holy Place.
1. after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before
the Lord, and died--It is thought by some that this chapter has been
transposed out of its right place in the sacred record, which was
immediately after the narrative of the deaths of Nadab and Abihu [Le
10:1-20]. That appalling catastrophe must have filled Aaron with
painful apprehensions lest the guilt of these two sons might be
entailed on his house, or that other members of his family might share
the same fate by some irregularities or defects in the discharge of
their sacred functions. And, therefore, this law was established, by
the due observance of whose requirements the Aaronic order would be
securely maintained and accepted in the priesthood.
2. Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the
holy place within the veil, &c.--Common priests went every day into the
part of the sanctuary without the veil to burn incense on the golden
altar. But none except the high priest was allowed to enter within the
veil, and that only once a year with the greatest care and solemnity.
This arrangement was evidently designed to inspire a reverence for the
most holy place, and the precaution was necessary at a time when the
presence of God was indicated by sensible symbols, the impression of
which might have been diminished or lost by daily and familiar
observation.
I will appear in the cloud--that is, the smoke of the incense which the
high priest burnt on his yearly entrance into the most holy place: and
this was the cloud which at that time covered the mercy seat.
3, 4. Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place--As the duties of the
great day of atonement led to the nearest and most solemn approach to
God, the directions as to the proper course to be followed were minute
and special.
with a young bullock ... and a ram--These victims he brought alive, but
they were not offered in sacrifice till he had gone through the
ceremonies described between Le 16:3-11. He was not to attire himself
on that occasion in the splendid robes that were proper to his sacred
office, but in a plain dress of linen, like the common Levites, for, as
he was then to make atonement for his own sins, as well as for those of
the people, he was to appear in the humble character of a suppliant.
That plain dress was more in harmony with a season of humiliation (as
well as lighter and more convenient for the duties which on that
occasion he had singly to perform) than the gorgeous robes of the
pontificate. It showed that when all appeared as sinners, the highest
and lowest were then on a level, and that there is no distinction of
persons with God [Ac 10:34].
5-10. shall take of the congregation ... two kids of the goats ... and
one ram--The sacrifices were to be offered by the high priest,
respectively for himself and the other priests, as well as for the
people. The bullock (Le 16:3) and the goats were for sin offerings and
the rams for burnt offerings. The goats, though used in different ways,
constituted only one offering. They were both presented before the
Lord, and the disposal of them determined by lot, which Jewish writers
have thus described: The priest, placing one of the goats on his right
hand and the other on his left, took his station by the altar, and cast
into an urn two pieces of gold exactly similar, inscribed, the one with
the words "for the Lord," and the other for "Azazel" (the scapegoat).
After having well shaken them together, he put both his hands into the
box and took up a lot in each: that in his right hand he put on the
head of the goat which stood on his right, and that in his left he
dropped on the other. In this manner the fate of each was decided.
11-19. Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering which is for
himself, &c.--The first part of the service was designed to solemnize
his own mind, as well as the minds of the people, by offering the
sacrifices for their sins. The sin offerings being slain had the sins
of the offerer judicially transferred to them by the imputation of his
hands on their head (Le 4:4, 15, 24, 29, 33); and thus the young
bullock, which was to make atonement for himself and the other priests
(called "his house," Ps 135:19), was killed by the hands of the high
priest. While the blood of the victim was being received into a vessel,
taking a censer of live coals in his right hand and a platter of sweet
incense in his left, he, amid the solemn attention and the anxious
prayers of the assembled multitude, crossed the porch and the holy
place, opened the outer veil which led into the holy of holies and then
the inner veil. Standing before the ark, he deposited the censer of
coals on the floor, emptied the plate of incense into his hand, poured
it on the burning coals; and the apartment was filled with fragrant
smoke, intended, according to Jewish writers, to prevent any
presumptuous gazer prying too curiously into the form of the mercy
seat, which was the Lord's throne. The high priest having done this,
perfumed the sanctuary, returned to the door, took the blood of the
slain bullock, and, carrying it into the holy of holies, sprinkled it
with his finger once upon the mercy seat "eastward"--that is, on the
side next to himself; and seven times "before the mercy seat"--that is,
on the front of the ark. Leaving the coals and the incense burning, he
went out a second time, to sacrifice at the altar of burnt offering the
goat which had been assigned as a sin offering for the people; and
carrying its blood into the holy of holies, he made similar sprinklings
as he had done before with the blood of the bullock. While the high
priest was thus engaged in the most holy place, none of the ordinary
priests were allowed to remain within the precincts of the tabernacle.
The sanctuary or holy place and the altar of burnt offering were in
like manner sprinkled seven times with the blood of the bullock and the
goat. The object of this solemn ceremonial was to impress the minds of
the Israelites with the conviction that the whole tabernacle was
stained by the sins of a guilty people, that by their sins they had
forfeited the privileges of the divine presence and worship, and that
an atonement had to be made as the condition of God's remaining with
them. The sins and shortcomings of the past year having polluted the
sacred edifice, the expiation required to be annually renewed. The
exclusion of the priests indicated their unworthiness and the
impurities of their service. The mingled blood of the two victims being
sprinkled on the horns of the altar indicated that the priests and the
people equally needed an atonement for their sins. But the sanctuary
being thus ceremonially purified, and the people of Israel reconciled
by the blood of the consecrated victim, the Lord continued to dwell in
the midst of them, and to honor them with His gracious presence.
20-22. he shall bring the live goat--Having already been presented
before the Lord (Le 16:10), it was now brought forward to the high
priest, who, placing his hands upon its head, and "having confessed
over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their
transgressions in all their sins," transferred them by this act to the
goat as their substitute. It was then delivered into the hands of a
person, who was appointed to lead him away into a distant, solitary,
and desert place, where in early times he was let go, to escape for his
life; but in the time of Christ, he was carried to a high rock twelve
miles from Jerusalem, and there, being thrust over the precipice, he
was killed. Commentators have differed widely in their opinions about
the character and purpose of this part of the ceremonial; some
considering the word "Azazel," with the Septuagint and our translators,
to mean, "the scapegoat"; others, "a lofty, precipitous rock"
[Bochart]; others, "a thing separated to God" [Ewald, Tholuck]; while
others think it designates Satan [Gesenius, Hengstenberg]. This last
view is grounded on the idea of both goats forming one and the same
sacrifice of atonement, and it is supported by Zec 3:1-10, which
presents a striking commentary on this passage. Whether there was in
this peculiar ceremony any reference to an Egyptian superstition about
Typhon, the spirit of evil, inhabiting the wilderness, and the design
was to ridicule it by sending a cursed animal into his gloomy
dominions, it is impossible to say. The subject is involved in much
obscurity. But in any view there seems to be a typical reference to
Christ who bore away our sins [Heb 10:4; 1Jo 3:5].
23-28. Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and
shall put off the linen garments--On the dismissal of the scapegoat,
the high priest prepared for the important parts of the service which
still remained; and for the performance of these he laid aside his
plain linen clothes, and, having bathed himself in water, he assumed
his pontifical dress. Thus gorgeously attired, he went to present the
burnt offerings which were prescribed for himself and the people,
consisting of the two rams which had been brought with the sin
offerings, but reserved till now. The fat was ordered to be burnt upon
the altar; the rest of the carcasses to be cut down and given to some
priestly attendants to burn without the camp, in conformity with the
general law for the sin offerings (Le 4:8-12; 8:14-17). The persons
employed in burning them, as well as the conductor of the scapegoat,
were obliged to wash their clothes and bathe their flesh in water
before they were allowed to return into the camp.
29-34. this shall be a statute for ever unto you, that in the seventh
month ye shall afflict your souls--This day of annual expiation for all
the sins, irreverences, and impurities of all classes in Israel during
the previous year, was to be observed as a solemn fast, in which "they
were to afflict their souls"; it was reckoned a sabbath, kept as a
season of "holy convocation," or, assembling for religious purposes.
All persons who performed any labor were subject to the penalty of
death [Ex 31:14, 15; 35:2]. It took place on the tenth day of the
seventh month, corresponding to our third of October; and this chapter,
together with Le 23:27-32, as containing special allusion to the
observances of the day, was publicly read. The rehearsal of these
passages appointing the solemn ceremonial was very appropriate, and the
details of the successive parts of it (above all the spectacle of the
public departure of the scapegoat under the care of its leader) must
have produced salutary impressions both of sin and of duty that would
not be soon effaced.
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CHAPTER 17
Le 17:1-16. Blood of Beasts Must Be Offered at the Tabernacle Door.
3, 4. What man ... killeth an ox--The Israelites, like other people
living in the desert, would not make much use of animal food; and when
they did kill a lamb or a kid for food, it would almost always be, as
in Abraham's entertainment of the angels [Ge 18:7], an occasion of a
feast, to be eaten in company. This was what was done with the peace
offerings, and accordingly it is here enacted, that the same course
shall be followed in slaughtering the animals as in the case of those
offerings, namely, that they should be killed publicly, and after being
devoted to God, partaken of by the offerers. This law, it is obvious,
could only be observable in the wilderness while the people were
encamped within an accessible distance from the tabernacle. The reason
for it is to be found in the strong addictedness of the Israelites to
idolatry at the time of their departure from Egypt; and as it would
have been easy for any by killing an animal to sacrifice privately to a
favorite object of worship, a strict prohibition was made against their
slaughtering at home. (See on De 12:15).
5. To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices,
which they offer in the open field--"They" is supposed by some
commentators to refer to the Egyptians, so that the verse will stand
thus: "the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they
(the Egyptians) offer in the open field." The law is thought to have
been directed against those whose Egyptian habits led them to imitate
this idolatrous practice.
7. they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils--literally,
"goats." The prohibition evidently alludes to the worship of the
hirei-footed kind, such as Pan, Faunus, and Saturn, whose recognized
symbol was a goat. This was a form of idolatry enthusiastically
practised by the Egyptians, particularly in the nome or province of
Mendes. Pan was supposed especially to preside over mountainous and
desert regions, and it was while they were in the wilderness that the
Israelites seem to have been powerfully influenced by a feeling to
propitiate this idol. Moreover, the ceremonies observed in this
idolatrous worship were extremely licentious and obscene, and the gross
impurity of the rites gives great point and significance to the
expression of Moses, "they have gone a-whoring."
8, 9. Whatsoever man ... offereth ... And bringeth it not unto the door
of the tabernacle--Before the promulgation of the law, men worshipped
wherever they pleased or pitched their tents. But after that event the
rites of religion could be acceptably performed only at the appointed
place of worship. This restriction with respect to place was necessary
as a preventive of idolatry; for it prohibited the Israelites, when at
a distance, from repairing to the altars of the heathen, which were
commonly in groves or fields.
10. I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and
will cut him off from among his people--The face of God is often used
in Scripture to denote His anger (Ps 34:16; Re 6:16; Eze 38:18). The
manner in which God's face would be set against such an offender was,
that if the crime were public and known, he was condemned to death; if
it were secret, vengeance would overtake him. (See on Ge 9:4). But the
practice against which the law is here pointed was an idolatrous rite.
The Zabians, or worshippers of the heavenly host, were accustomed, in
sacrificing animals, to pour out the blood and eat a part of the flesh
at the place where the blood was poured out (and sometimes the blood
itself) believing that by means of it, friendship, brotherhood, and
familiarity were contracted between the worshippers and the deities.
They, moreover, supposed that the blood was very beneficial in
obtaining for them a vision of the demon during their sleep, and a
revelation of future events. The prohibition against eating blood,
viewed in the light of this historic commentary and unconnected with
the peculiar terms in which it is expressed, seems to have been
levelled against idolatrous practices, as is still further evident from
Eze 33:25, 26; 1Co 10:20, 21.
11. the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you
upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls--God, as the
sovereign author and proprietor of nature, reserved the blood to
Himself and allowed men only one use of it--in the way of sacrifices.
13, 14. whatsoever man ... hunteth--It was customary with heathen
sportsmen, when they killed any game or venison, to pour out the blood
as a libation to the god of the chase. The Israelites, on the contrary,
were enjoined, instead of leaving it exposed, to cover it with dust
and, by this means, were effectually debarred from all the
superstitious uses to which the heathen applied it.
15, 16. every soul that eateth that which died of itself (Ex 22:31; Le
7:24; Ac 15:20),
be unclean until the even--that is, from the moment of his discovering
his fault until the evening. This law, however, was binding only on an
Israelite. (See De 14:21).
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CHAPTER 18
Le 18:1-30. Unlawful Marriages.
2-4. I am the Lord your God--This renewed mention of the divine
sovereignty over the Israelites was intended to bear particularly on
some laws that were widely different from the social customs that
obtained both in Egypt and Canaan; for the enormities, which the laws
enumerated in this chapter were intended to put down, were freely
practised or publicly sanctioned in both of those countries; and,
indeed, the extermination of the ancient Canaanites is described as
owing to the abominations with which they had polluted the land.
5. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a
man do, he shall live in them--A special blessing was promised to the
Israelites on condition of their obedience to the divine law; and this
promise was remarkably verified at particular eras of their history,
when pure and undefiled religion prevailed among them, in the public
prosperity and domestic happiness enjoyed by them as a people.
Obedience to the divine law always, indeed, ensures temporal
advantages; and this, doubtless, was the primary meaning of the words,
"which if a man do, he shall live in them." But that they had a higher
reference to spiritual life is evident from the application made of
them by our Lord (Lu 10:28) and the apostle (Ro 10:2).
6. None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him--Very
great laxity prevailed amongst the Egyptians in their sentiments and
practice about the conjugal relation, as they not only openly
sanctioned marriages between brothers and sisters, but even between
parents and children. Such incestuous alliances Moses wisely
prohibited, and his laws form the basis upon which the marriage
regulations of this and other Christian nations are chiefly founded.
This verse contains a general summary of all the particular
prohibitions; and the forbidden intercourse is pointed out by the
phrase, "to approach to." In the specified prohibitions that follow,
all of which are included in this general summary, the prohibited
familiarity is indicated by the phrases, to "uncover the nakedness" [Le
18:12-17], to "take" [Le 18:17, 18], and to "lie with" [Le 18:22, 23].
The phrase in this sixth verse, therefore, has the same identical
meaning with each of the other three, and the marriages in reference to
which it is used are those of consanguinity or too close affinity,
amounting to incestuous connections.
18. Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her--The
original is rendered in the Margin, "neither shalt thou take one wife
to another to vex her," and two different and opposite interpretations
have been put upon this passage. The marginal construction involves an
express prohibition of polygamy; and, indeed, there can be no doubt
that the practice of having more wives than one is directly contrary to
the divine will. It was prohibited by the original law of marriage, and
no evidence of its lawfulness under the Levitical code can be
discovered, although Moses--from "the hardness of their hearts" [Mt
19:8; Mr 10:5]--tolerated it in the people of a rude and early age. The
second interpretation forms the ground upon which the "vexed question"
has been raised in our times respecting the lawfulness of marriage with
a deceased wife's sister. Whatever arguments may be used to prove the
unlawfulness or inexpediency of such a matrimonial relation, the
passage under consideration cannot, on a sound basis of criticism, be
enlisted in the service; for the crimes with which it is here
associated warrant the conclusion that it points not to marriage with a
deceased wife's sister, but with a sister in the wife's lifetime, a
practice common among the ancient Egyptians, Chaldeans, and others.
21. thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech,
&c.--Molech, or Moloch, which signifies "king," was the idol of the
Ammonites. His statue was of brass, and rested on a pedestal or throne
of the same metal. His head, resembling that of a calf, was adorned
with a crown, and his arms were extended in the attitude of embracing
those who approached him. His devotees dedicated their children to him;
and when this was to be done, they heated the statue to a high pitch of
intensity by a fire within, and then the infants were either shaken
over the flames, or passed through the ignited arms, by way of
lustration to ensure the favor of the pretended deity. The
fire-worshippers asserted that all children who did not undergo this
purifying process would die in infancy; and the influence of this
Zabian superstition was still so extensively prevalent in the days of
Moses, that the divine lawgiver judged it necessary to prohibit it by
an express statute.
neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God--by giving it to false
or pretended divinities; or, perhaps, from this precept standing in
close connection with the worship of Molech, the meaning rather is, Do
not, by devoting your children to him, give foreigners occasion to
blaspheme the name of your God as a cruel and sanguinary deity, who
demands the sacrifice of human victims, and who encourages cruelty in
his votaries.
24. Defile not yourselves in any of these things--In the preceding
verses seventeen express cases of incest are enumerated; comprehending
eleven of affinity [Le 18:7-16], and six of consanguinity [Le
18:17-20], together with some criminal enormities of an aggravated and
unnatural character. In such prohibitions it was necessary for the
instruction of a people low in the scale of moral perception, that the
enumeration should be very specific as well as minute; and then, on
completing it, the divine lawgiver announces his own views of these
crimes, without any exception or modification, in the remarkable terms
employed in this verse.
in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you,
&c.--Ancient history gives many appalling proofs that the enormous
vices described in this chapter were very prevalent, nay, were
regularly practised from religious motives in the temples of Egypt and
the groves of Canaan; and it was these gigantic social disorders that
occasioned the expulsion, of which the Israelites were, in the hands of
a righteous and retributive Providence, the appointed instruments (Ge
15:16). The strongly figurative language of "the land itself vomiting
out her inhabitants" [Le 18:25], shows the hopeless depth of their
moral corruption.
25. therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it; and the land
itself vomiteth out her inhabitants--The Canaanites, as enormous and
incorrigible sinners, were to be exterminated; and this extermination
was manifestly a judicial punishment inflicted by a ruler whose laws
had been grossly and perseveringly outraged. But before a law can be
disobeyed, it must have been previously in existence; and hence a law,
prohibiting all the horrid crimes enumerated above--a law obligatory
upon the Canaanites as well as other nations--was already known and in
force before the Levitical law of incest was promulgated. Some general
Iaw, then, prohibiting these crimes must have been published to mankind
at a very early period of the world's history; and that law must either
have been the moral law, originally written on the human heart, or a
law on the institution of marriage revealed to Adam and known to the
Canaanites and others by tradition or otherwise.
29. the souls that commit them shall be cut off--This strong
denunciatory language is applied to all the crimes specified in the
chapter without distinction: to incest as truly as to bestiality, and
to the eleven cases of affinity [Le 18:7-16], as fully as to the six of
consanguinity [Le 18:17-20]. Death is the punishment sternly denounced
against all of them. No language could be more explicit or universal;
none could more strongly indicate intense loathing and abhorrence.
30. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one
of these abominable customs--In giving the Israelites these particular
institutions, God was only re-delivering the law imprinted on the
natural heart of man; for there is every reason to believe that the
incestuous alliances and unnatural crimes prohibited in this chapter
were forbidden to all men by a law expressed or understood from the
beginning of the world, or at least from the era of the flood, since
God threatens to condemn and punish, in a manner so sternly severe,
these atrocities in the practice of the Canaanites and their neighbors,
who were not subject to the laws of the Hebrew nation.
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CHAPTER 19
Le 19:1-37. A Repetition of Sundry Laws.
2. Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel--Many of
the laws enumerated in this chapter had been previously announced. As
they were, however, of a general application, not suited to particular
classes, but to the nation at large, so Moses seems, according to
divine instructions, to have rehearsed them, perhaps on different
occasions and to successive divisions of the people, till "all the
congregation of the children of Israel" were taught to know them. The
will of God in the Old as well as the New Testament Church was not
locked up in the repositories of an unknown tongue, but communicated
plainly and openly to the people.
Ye shall be holy: for I ... am holy--Separated from the world, the
people of God were required to be holy, for His character, His laws,
and service were holy. (See 1Pe 1:15).
3. Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my
sabbaths--The duty of obedience to parents is placed in connection with
the proper observance of the Sabbaths, both of them lying at the
foundation of practical religion.
5-8. if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall
offer it at your own will--Those which included thank offerings, or
offerings made for vows, were always freewill offerings. Except the
portions which, being waved and heaved, became the property of the
priests (see Le 3:1-17), the rest of the victim was eaten by the
offerer and his friend, under the following regulations, however, that,
if thank offerings, they were to be eaten on the day of their
presentation; and if a freewill offering, although it might be eaten on
the second day, yet if any remained of it till the third day, it was to
be burnt, or deep criminality was incurred by the person who then
ventured to partake of it. The reason of this strict prohibition seems
to have been to prevent any mysterious virtue being superstitiously
attached to meat offered on the altar.
9, 10. And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly
reap the corners of thy field--The right of the poor in Israel to glean
after reapers, as well as to the unreaped corners of the field, was
secured by a positive statute; and this, in addition to other
enactments connected with the ceremonial law, formed a beneficial
provision for their support. At the same time, proprietors were not
obliged to admit them into the field until the grain had been carried
off the field; and they seem also to have been left at liberty to
choose the poor whom they deemed the most deserving or needful (Ru 2:2,
8). This was the earliest law for the benefit of the poor that we read
of in the code of any people; and it combined in admirable union the
obligation of a public duty with the exercise of private and voluntary
benevolence at a time when the hearts of the rich would be strongly
inclined to liberality.
11-16. Ye shall not steal--A variety of social duties are inculcated in
this passage, chiefly in reference to common and little-thought-of
vices to which mankind are exceedingly prone; such as committing petty
frauds, or not scrupling to violate truth in transactions of business,
ridiculing bodily infirmities, or circulating stories to the prejudice
of others. In opposition to these bad habits, a spirit of humanity and
brotherly kindness is strongly enforced.
17. thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour--Instead of cherishing
latent feelings of malice or meditating purposes of revenge against a
person who has committed an insult or injury against them, God's people
were taught to remonstrate with the offender and endeavor, by calm and
kindly reason, to bring him to a sense of his fault.
not suffer sin upon him--literally, "that ye may not participate in his
sin."
18. thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself--The word "neighbour" is
used as synonymous with "fellow creature." The Israelites in a later
age restricted its meaning as applicable only to their own countrymen.
This narrow interpretation was refuted by our Lord in a beautiful
parable (Lu 10:30-37).
19. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind--This
prohibition was probably intended to discourage a practice which seemed
to infringe upon the economy which God has established in the animal
kingdom.
thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed--This also was directed
against an idolatrous practice, namely, that of the ancient Zabians, or
fire-worshippers, who sowed different seeds, accompanying the act with
magical rites and invocations; and commentators have generally thought
the design of this and the preceding law was to put an end to the
unnatural lusts and foolish superstitions which were prevalent among
the heathen. But the reason of the prohibition was probably deeper: for
those who have studied the diseases of land and vegetables tell us,
that the practice of mingling seeds is injurious both to flowers and to
grains. "If the various genera of the natural order Gramineæ, which
includes the grains and the grasses, should be sown in the same field,
and flower at the same time, so that the pollen of the two flowers mix,
a spurious seed will be the consequence, called by the farmers chess.
It is always inferior and unlike either of the two grains that produced
it, in size, flavor, and nutritious principles. Independently of
contributing to disease the soil, they never fail to produce the same
in animals and men that feed on them" [Whitlaw].
neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon
thee--Although this precept, like the other two with which it is
associated, was in all probability designed to root out some
superstition, it seems to have had a further meaning. The law, it is to
be observed, did not prohibit the Israelites wearing many different
kinds of cloths together, but only the two specified; and the
observations and researches of modern science have proved that "wool,
when combined with linen, increases its power of passing off the
electricity from the body. In hot climates, it brings on malignant
fevers and exhausts the strength; and when passing off from the body,
it meets with the heated air, inflames and excoriates like a blister"
[Whitlaw]. (See Eze 44:17, 18).
23-25. ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised; three years
... it shall not be eaten of--"The wisdom of this law is very striking.
Every gardener will teach us not to let fruit trees bear in their
earliest years, but to pluck off the blossoms: and for this reason,
that they will thus thrive the better, and bear more abundantly
afterwards. The very expression, 'to regard them as uncircumcised,'
suggests the propriety of pinching them off; I do not say cutting them
off, because it is generally the hand, and not a knife, that is
employed in this operation" [Michaelis].
26. shall not eat any thing with the blood--(See on Le 17:10).
neither ... use enchantment, nor observe times--The former refers to
divination by serpents--one of the earliest forms of enchantment, and
the other means the observation, literally, of clouds, as a study of
the appearance and motion of clouds was a common way of foretelling
good or bad fortune. Such absurd but deep-rooted superstitions often
put a stop to the prosecution of serious and important transactions,
but they were forbidden especially as implying a want of faith in the
being, or of reliance on the providence of God.
27. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, &c.--It seems
probable that this fashion had been learned by the Israelites in Egypt,
for the ancient Egyptians had their dark locks cropped short or shaved
with great nicety, so that what remained on the crown appeared in the
form of a circle surrounding the head, while the beard was dressed into
a square form. This kind of coiffure had a highly idolatrous meaning;
and it was adopted, with some slight variations, by almost all
idolaters in ancient times. (Jer 9:25, 26; 25:23, where "in the utmost
corners" means having the corners of their hair cut.) Frequently a lock
or tuft of hair was left on the hinder part of the head, the rest being
cut round in the form of a ring, as the Turks, Chinese, and Hindus do
at the present day.
neither shalt thou mar, &c.--The Egyptians used to cut or shave off
their whiskers, as may be seen in the coffins of mummies, and the
representations of divinities on the monuments. But the Hebrews, in
order to separate them from the neighboring nations, or perhaps to put
a stop to some existing superstition, were forbidden to imitate this
practice. It may appear surprising that Moses should condescend to such
minutiæ as that of regulating the fashion of the hair and the
beard--matters which do not usually occupy the attention of a
legislator--and which appear widely remote from the province either of
government or of a religion. A strong presumption, therefore, arises
that he had in mind by these regulations to combat some superstitious
practices of the Egyptians.
28. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead--The
practice of making deep gashes on the face and arms and legs, in time
of bereavement, was universal among the heathen, and it was deemed a
becoming mark of respect for the dead, as well as a sort of
propitiatory offering to the deities who presided over death and the
grave. The Jews learned this custom in Egypt, and though weaned from
it, relapsed in a later and degenerate age into this old superstition
(Isa 15:2; Jer 16:6; 41:5).
nor print any marks upon you--by tattooing, imprinting figures of
flowers, leaves, stars, and other fanciful devices on various parts of
their person. The impression was made sometimes by means of a hot iron,
sometimes by ink or paint, as is done by the Arab females of the
present day and the different castes of the Hindus. It is probable that
a strong propensity to adopt such marks in honor of some idol gave
occasion to the prohibition in this verse; and they were wisely
forbidden, for they were signs of apostasy; and, when once made, they
were insuperable obstacles to a return. (See allusions to the practice,
Isa 44:5; Re 13:17; 14:1).
30. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary--This precept
is frequently repeated along with the prohibition of idolatrous
practices, and here it stands closely connected with the superstitions
forbidden in the previous verses.
31. Regard not them that have familiar spirits--The Hebrew word,
rendered "familiar spirit," signifies the belly, and sometimes a
leathern bottle, from its similarity to the belly. It was applied in
the sense of this passage to ventriloquists, who pretended to have
communication with the invisible world. The Hebrews were strictly
forbidden to consult them as the vain but high pretensions of those
impostors were derogatory to the honor of God and subversive of their
covenant relations with Him as His people.
neither seek after wizards--fortunetellers, who pretended, as the
Hebrew word indicates, to prognosticate by palmistry (or an inspection
of the lines of the hand) the future fate of those who applied to them.
33, 34. if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex
him--The Israelites were to hold out encouragement to strangers to
settle among them, that they might be brought to the knowledge and
worship of the true God; and with this in view, they were enjoined to
treat them not as aliens, but as friends, on the ground that they
themselves, who were strangers in Egypt, were at first kindly and
hospitably received in that country.
37. I am the Lord--This solemn admonition, by which these various
precepts are repeatedly sanctioned, is equivalent to "I, your
Creator--your Deliverer from bondage, and your Sovereign, who have
wisdom to establish laws, have power also to punish the violation of
them." It was well fitted to impress the minds of the Israelites with a
sense of their duty and God's claims to obedience.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 20
Le 20:1-27. Giving One's Seed to Molech.
2. Whosoever ... giveth any of his seed unto Molech--(See on Le 18:21).
the people of the land shall stone him with stones, &c.--Criminals who
were condemned to be stoned were led, with their hands bound, without
the gates to a small eminence, where was a large stone placed at the
bottom. When they had approached within ten cubits of the spot, they
were exhorted to confess, that, by faith and repentance, their souls
might be saved. When led forward to within four cubits, they were
stripped almost naked, and received some stupefying draught, during
which the witnesses prepared, by laying aside their outer garments, to
carry into execution the capital sentence which the law bound them to
do. The criminal, being placed on the edge of the precipice, was then
pushed backwards, so that he fell down the perpendicular height on the
stone lying below: if not killed by the fall, the second witness dashed
a large stone down upon his breast, and then the "people of the land,"
who were by-standers, rushed forward, and with stones completed the
work of death (Mt 21:44; Ac 7:58).
4. If the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man,
&c.--that is, connive at their countrymen practising the horrid rites
of Molech. Awful was it that any Hebrew parents could so violate their
national covenant, and no wonder that God denounced the severest
penalties against them and their families.
7-19. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy--The minute
specification of the incestuous and unnatural crimes here enumerated
shows their sad prevalence amongst the idolatrous nations around, and
the extreme proneness of the Israelites to follow the customs of their
neighbors. It is to be understood, that, whenever mention is made that
the offender was "to be put to death" without describing the mode,
stoning is meant. The only instance of another form of capital
punishment occurs in Le 20:14, that of being burnt with fire; and yet
it is probable that even here death was first inflicted by stoning, and
the body of the criminal afterwards consumed by fire (Jos 7:15).
20. they shall die childless--Either by the judgment of God they shall
have no children, or their spurious offspring shall be denied by human
authority the ordinary privileges of children in Israel.
24. I ... have separated you from other people--Their selection from
the rest of the nations was for the all-important end of preserving the
knowledge and worship of the true God amid the universal apostasy; and
as the distinction of meats was one great means of completing that
separation, the law about making a difference between clean and unclean
beasts is here repeated with emphatic solemnity.
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CHAPTER 21
Le 21:1-24. Of the Priests' Mourning.
1. There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people--The
obvious design of the regulations contained in this chapter was to keep
inviolate the purity and dignity of the sacred office. Contact with a
corpse, or even contiguity to the place where it lay, entailing
ceremonial defilement (Nu 19:14), all mourners were debarred from the
tabernacle for a week; and as the exclusion of a priest during that
period would have been attended with great inconvenience, the whole
order were enjoined to abstain from all approaches to the dead, except
at the funerals of relatives, to whom affection or necessity might call
them to perform the last offices. Those exceptional cases, which are
specified, were strictly confined to the members of their own family,
within the nearest degrees of kindred.
4. But he shall not defile himself--"for any other," as the sense may
be fully expressed. "The priest, in discharging his sacred functions,
might well be regarded as a chief man among his people, and by these
defilements might be said to profane himself" [Bishop Patrick]. The
word rendered "chief man" signifies also "a husband"; and the sense
according to others is, "But he being a husband, shall not defile
himself by the obsequies of a wife" (Eze 44:25).
5. They shall not make baldness upon their heads ... nor ... cuttings
in their flesh--The superstitious marks of sorrow, as well as the
violent excesses in which the heathen indulged at the death of their
friends, were forbidden by a general law to the Hebrew people (Le
19:28). But the priests were to be laid under a special injunction, not
only that they might exhibit examples of piety in the moderation of
their grief, but also by the restraint of their passions, be the better
qualified to administer the consolations of religion to others, and
show, by their faith in a blessed resurrection, the reasons for
sorrowing not as those who have no hope.
7-9. They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane--Private
individuals might form several connections, which were forbidden as
inexpedient or improper in priests. The respectability of their office,
and the honor of religion, required unblemished sanctity in their
families as well as themselves, and departures from it in their case
were visited with severer punishment than in that of others.
10-15. he that is the high priest among his brethren ... shall not
uncover his head, nor rend his clothes--The indulgence in the excepted
cases of family bereavement, mentioned above [Le 21:2, 3], which was
granted to the common priests, was denied to him; for his absence from
the sanctuary for the removal of any contracted defilement could not
have been dispensed with, neither could he have acted as intercessor
for the people, unless ceremonially clean. Moreover, the high dignity
of his office demanded a corresponding superiority in personal
holiness, and stringent rules were prescribed for the purpose of
upholding the suitable dignity of his station and family. The same
rules are extended to the families of Christian ministers (1Ti 3:2; Tit
1:6).
16-24. Whosoever he be ... hath any blemish, let him not approach to
offer the bread of his God--As visible things exert a strong influence
on the minds of men, any physical infirmity or malformation of body in
the ministers of religion, which disturbs the associations or excites
ridicule, tends to detract from the weight and authority of the sacred
office. Priests laboring under any personal defect were not allowed to
officiate in the public service; they might be employed in some
inferior duties about the sanctuary but could not perform any sacred
office. In all these regulations for preserving the unsullied purity of
the sacred character and office, there was a typical reference to the
priesthood of Christ (Heb 7:26).
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CHAPTER 22
Le 22:1-9. The Priests in Their Uncleanness.
2. Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from
the holy things--"To separate" means, in the language of the Mosaic
ritual, "to abstain"; and therefore the import of this injunction is
that the priests should abstain from eating that part of the sacrifices
which, though belonging to their order, was to be partaken of only by
such of them as were free from legal impurities.
that they profane not my holy name in those things which they hallow
unto me, &c.--that is, let them not, by their want of due reverence,
give occasion to profane my holy name. A careless or irreverent use of
things consecrated to God tends to dishonor the name and bring
disrespect on the worship of God.
3. Whosoever he be ... that goeth unto the holy things--The multitude
of minute restrictions to which the priests, from accidental
defilement, were subjected, by keeping them constantly on their guard
lest they should be unfit for the sacred service, tended to preserve in
full exercise the feeling of awe and submission to the authority of
God. The ideas of sin and duty were awakened in their breasts by every
case to which either an interdict or an injunction was applied. But why
enact an express statute for priests disqualified by the leprosy or
polluting touch of a carcass [Le 22:4], when a general law was already
in force which excluded from society all persons in that condition?
Because priests might be apt, from familiarity, to trifle with
religion, and in committing irregularities or sins, to shelter
themselves under the cloak of the sacred office. This law, therefore,
was passed, specifying the chief forms of temporary defilement which
excluded from the sanctuary, that priests might not deem themselves
entitled to greater license than the rest of the people; and that so
far from being in any degree exempted from the sanctions of the law,
they were under greater obligations, by their priestly station, to
observe it in its strict letter and its smallest enactments.
4-6. wash his flesh with water--Any Israelite who had contracted a
defilement of such a nature as debarred him from the enjoyment of his
wonted privileges, and had been legally cleansed from the disqualifying
impurity, was bound to indicate his state of recovery by the immersion
of his whole person in water. Although all ceremonial impurity formed a
ground of exclusion, there were degrees of impurity which entailed a
longer or shorter period of excommunication, and for the removal of
which different rites required to be observed according to the trivial
or the malignant nature of the case. A person who came inadvertently
into contact with an unclean animal was rendered unclean for a
specified period; and then, at the expiry of that term, he washed, in
token of his recovered purity. But a leper was unclean so long as he
remained subject to that disease, and on his convalescence, he also
washed, not to cleanse himself, for the water was ineffectual for that
purpose, but to signify that he was clean. Not a single case is
recorded of a leper being restored to communion by the use of water; it
served only as an outward and visible sign that such a restoration was
to be made. The Book of Leviticus abounds with examples which show that
in all the ceremonial washings, as uncleanness meant loss of
privileges, so baptism with water indicated a restoration to those
privileges. There was no exemption; for as the unclean Israelite was
exiled from the congregation, so the unclean priest was disqualified
from executing his sacred functions in the sanctuary; and in the case
of both, the same observance was required--a formal intimation of their
being readmitted to forfeited privileges was intimated by the appointed
rite of baptism. If any one neglected or refused to perform the
washing, he disobeyed a positive precept, and he remained in his
uncleanness; he forbore to avail himself of this privilege, and was
therefore said to be "cut off" from the presence of the Lord.
8. dieth of itself--The feelings of nature revolt against such food. It
might have been left to the discretion of the Hebrews, who it may be
supposed (like the people of all civilized nations) would have
abstained from the use of it without any positive interdict. But an
express precept was necessary to show them that whatever died naturally
or from disease, was prohibited to them by the operation of that law
which forbade them the use of any meat with its blood.
Le 22:10-16. Who of the Priests' House May Eat of Them.
10-13. There shall no stranger eat the holy thing--The portion of the
sacrifices assigned for the support of the officiating priests was
restricted to the exclusive use of his own family. A temporary guest or
a hired servant was not at liberty to eat of them; but an exception was
made in favor of a bought or homeborn slave, because such was a stated
member of his household. On the same principle, his own daughter, who
married a husband not a priest, could not eat of them. However, if a
widow and childless, she was reinstated in the privileges of her
father's house as before her marriage. But if she had become a mother,
as her children had no right to the privileges of the priesthood, she
was under a necessity of finding support for them elsewhere than under
her father's roof.
13. there shall no stranger eat thereof--The interdict recorded (Le
22:10) is repeated to show its stringency. All the Hebrews, even the
nearest neighbors of the priest, the members of his family excepted,
were considered strangers in this respect, so that they had no right to
eat of things offered at the altar.
14. if a man eat of the holy thing unwittingly--A common Israelite
might unconsciously partake of what had been offered as tithes,
first-fruits, &c., and on discovering his unintentional error, he was
not only to restore as much as he had used, but be fined in a fifth
part more for the priests to carry into the sanctuary.
15, 16. they shall not profane the holy things of the children of
Israel--There is some difficulty felt in determining to whom "they"
refers. The subject of the preceding context being occupied about the
priests, it is supposed by some that this relates to them also; and the
meaning then is that the whole people would incur guilt through the
fault of the priests, if they should defile the sacred offerings, which
they would have done had they presented them while under any defilement
[Calvin]. According to others, "the children of Israel" is the
nominative in the sentence; which thus signifies, the children of
Israel shall not profane or defile their offerings, by touching them or
reserving any part of them, lest they incur the guilt of eating what is
divinely appointed to the priests alone [Calmet].
Le 22:17-33. The Sacrifices Must Be without Blemish.
19. Ye shall offer at your own will--rather, to your being accepted.
a male without blemish--This law (Le 1:3) is founded on a sense of
natural propriety, which required the greatest care to be taken in the
selection of animals for sacrifice. The reason for this extreme caution
is found in the fact that sacrifices are either an expression of praise
to God for His goodness, or else they are the designed means of
conciliating or retaining His favor. No victim that was not perfect in
its kind could be deemed a fitting instrument for such purposes if we
assume that the significance of sacrifices is derived entirely from
their relation to Jehovah. Sacrifices may be likened to gifts made to a
king by his subjects, and hence the reasonableness of God's strong
remonstrance with the worldly-minded Jews (Mal 1:8). If the tabernacle,
and subsequently the temple, were considered the palace of the great
King, then the sacrifices would answer to presents as offered to a
monarch on various occasions by his subjects; and in this light they
would be the appropriate expressions of their feelings towards their
sovereign. When a subject wished to do honor to his sovereign, to
acknowledge allegiance, to appease his anger, to supplicate
forgiveness, or to intercede for another, he brought a present; and all
the ideas involved in sacrifices correspond to these sentiments--those
of gratitude, of worship, of prayer, of confession and atonement [Bib.
Sac.].
23. that mayest thou offer, &c.--The passage should be rendered thus:
"if thou offer it either for a freewill offering, or for a vow, it
shall not be accepted." This sacrifice being required to be "without
blemish" [Le 22:19], symbolically implied that the people of God were
to dedicate themselves wholly with sincere purposes of heart, and its
being required to be "perfect to be accepted" [Le 22:21], led them
typically to Him without whom no sacrifice could be offered acceptable
to God.
27, 28. it shall be seven days under the dam--Animals were not
considered perfect nor good for food till the eighth day. As sacrifices
are called the bread or food of God (Le 22:25), to offer them
immediately after birth, when they were unfit to be eaten, would have
indicated a contempt of religion; and besides, this prohibition, as
well as that contained in Le 22:28, inculcated a lesson of humanity or
tenderness to the dam, as well as secured the sacrifices from all
appearance of unfeeling cruelty.
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CHAPTER 23
Le 23:1-4. Of Sundry Feasts.
2. Speak unto the children of Israel, ... concerning the feasts of the
Lord--literally, "the times of assembling, or solemnities" (Isa 33:20);
and this is a preferable rendering, applicable to all sacred seasons
mentioned in this chapter, even the day of atonement, which was
observed as a fast. They were appointed by the direct authority of God
and announced by a public proclamation, which is called "the joyful
sound" (Ps 89:15). Those "holy convocations" were evidences of divine
wisdom, and eminently subservient to the maintenance and diffusion of
religious knowledge and piety.
3. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of
rest--(See on Ex 20:8). The Sabbath has the precedence given to it, and
it was to be "a holy convocation," observed by families "in their
dwellings"; where practicable, by the people repairing to the door of
the tabernacle; at later periods, by meeting in the schools of the
prophets, and in synagogues.
4. These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim in their
seasons--Their observance took place in the parts of the year
corresponding to our March, May, and September. Divine wisdom was
manifested in fixing them at those periods; in winter, when the days
were short and the roads broken up, a long journey was impracticable;
while in summer the harvest and vintage gave busy employment in the
fields. Besides, another reason for the choice of those seasons
probably was to counteract the influence of Egyptian associations and
habits. And God appointed more sacred festivals for the Israelites in
the month of September than the people of Egypt had in honor of their
idols. These institutions, however, were for the most part prospective,
the observance being not binding on the Israelites during their
wanderings in the wilderness, while the regular celebration was not to
commence till their settlement in Canaan.
Le 23:5-8. The Passover.
5. the Lord's passover--(See Ex 12:2, 14, 18). The institution of the
passover was intended to be a perpetual memorial of the circumstances
attending the redemption of the Israelites, while it had a typical
reference to a greater redemption to be effected for God's spiritual
people. On the first and last days of this feast, the people were
forbidden to work [Le 23:7, 8]; but while on the Sabbath they were not
to do any work, on feast days they were permitted to dress meat--and
hence the prohibition is restricted to "no servile work." At the same
time, those two days were devoted to "holy convocation"--special
seasons of social devotion. In addition to the ordinary sacrifices of
every day, there were to be "offerings by fire" on the altar (see Nu
28:19), while unleavened bread was to be eaten in families all the
seven days (see 1Co 5:8).
Le 23:9-14. The Sheaf of First Fruits.
10. ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the
priest--A sheaf, literally, an omer, of the first-fruits of the barley
harvest. The barley being sooner ripe than the other grains, the
reaping of it formed the commencement of the general harvest season.
The offering described in this passage was made on the sixteenth of the
first month, the day following the first Passover Sabbath, which was on
the fifteenth (corresponding to the beginning of our April); but it was
reaped after sunset on the previous evening by persons deputed to go
with sickles and obtain samples from different fields. These, being
laid together in a sheaf or loose bundle, were brought to the court of
the temple, where the grain was winnowed, parched, and bruised in a
mortar. Then, after some incense had been sprinkled on it, the priest
waved the sheaf aloft before the Lord towards the four different points
of the compass, took a part of it and threw it into the fire of the
altar--all the rest being reserved to himself. It was a proper and
beautiful act, expressive of dependence on the God of nature and
providence--common among all people, but more especially becoming the
Israelites, who owed their land itself as well as all it produced to
the divine bounty. The offering of the wave-sheaf sanctified the whole
harvest (Ro 11:16). At the same time, this feast had a typical
character, and pre-intimated the resurrection of Christ (1Co 15:20),
who rose from the dead on the very day the first-fruits were offered.
Le 23:15-22. Feast of Pentecost.
15. ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath--that is,
after the first day of the passover week, which was observed as a
Sabbath.
16. number fifty days--The forty-ninth day after the presentation of
the first-fruits, or the fiftieth, including it, was the feast of
Pentecost. (See also Ex 23:16; De 16:9).
17. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth
deals, &c.--These loaves were made of "fine" or wheaten flour, the
quantity contained in them being somewhat more than ten pounds in
weight. As the wave-sheaf gave the signal for the commencement, the two
loaves solemnized the termination of the harvest season. They were the
first-fruits of that season, being offered unto the Lord by the priest
in name of the whole nation. (See Ex 34:22). The loaves used at the
Passover were unleavened; those presented at Pentecost were leavened--a
difference which is thus accounted for, that the one was a memorial of
the bread hastily prepared at their departure, while the other was a
tribute of gratitude to God for their daily food, which was leavened.
21. ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy
convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein--Though it
extended over a week, the first day only was held as a Sabbath, both
for the national offering of first-fruits and a memorial of the giving
of the law.
22. thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when
thou reapest, &c.--(See on Le 19:9). The repetition of this law here
probably arose from the priests reminding the people, at the
presentation of the first-fruits, to unite piety to God with charity to
the poor.
Le 23:23-25. Feast of Trumpets.
24. In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have
a sabbath--That was the first day of the ancient civil year.
a memorial of blowing of trumpets--Jewish writers say that the trumpets
were sounded thirty successive times, and the reason for the
institution was for the double purpose of announcing the commencement
of the new year, which was (Le 23:25) to be religiously observed (see
Nu 29:3), and of preparing the people for the approaching solemn feast.
27-32. there shall be a day of atonement ... and ye shall afflict your
souls--an unusual festival, at which the sins of the whole year were
expiated. (See Le 16:29-34). It is here only stated that the severest
penalty was incurred by the violation of this day.
34-44. the feast of tabernacles, for seven days unto the Lord--This
festival, which was instituted in grateful commemoration of the
Israelites having securely dwelt in booths or tabernacles in the
wilderness, was the third of the three great annual festivals, and,
like the other two, it lasted a week. It began on the fifteenth day of
the month, corresponding to the end of our September and beginning of
October, which was observed as a Sabbath; and it could be celebrated
only at the place of the sanctuary, offerings being made on the altar
every day of its continuance. The Jews were commanded during the whole
period of the festival to dwell in booths, which were erected on the
flat roofs of houses, in the streets or fields; and the trees made use
of are by some stated to be the citron, the palm, the myrtle, and the
willow, while others maintain the people were allowed to take any trees
they could obtain that were distinguished for verdure and fragrance.
While the solid branches were reserved for the construction of the
booths, the lighter branches were carried by men, who marched in
triumphal procession, singing psalms and crying "Hosanna!" which
signifies, "Save, we beseech thee!" (Ps 118:15, 25, 26). It was a
season of great rejoicing. But the ceremony of drawing water from the
pool, which was done on the last day, seems to have been the
introduction of a later period (Joh 7:37). That last day was the
eighth, and, on account of the scene at Siloam, was called "the great
day of the feast." The feast of ingathering, when the vintage was over,
was celebrated also on that day [Ex 23:16; 34:22], and, as the
conclusion of one of the great festivals, it was kept as a sabbath.
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CHAPTER 24
Le 24:1-23. Oil for the Lamps.
2. Command the children of Israel--This is the repetition of a law
previously given (Ex 27:20, 21).
pure oil olive beaten--or cold-drawn, which is always of great purity.
3, 4. Aaron shall order it from the evening unto the morning--The daily
presence of the priests was necessary to superintend the cleaning and
trimming.
4. upon the pure candlestick--so called because of pure gold. This was
symbolical of the light which ministers are to diffuse through the
Church.
5-9. take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes--for the showbread, as
previously appointed (Ex 25:30). Those cakes were baked by the Levites,
the flour being furnished by the people (1Ch 9:32; 23:29), oil, wine,
and salt being the other ingredients (Le 2:13).
two tenth deals--that is, of an ephah--thirteen and a half pounds
weight each; and on each row or pile of cakes some frankincense was
strewed, which, being burnt, led to the showbread being called "an
offering made by fire." Every Sabbath a fresh supply was furnished; hot
loaves were placed on the altar instead of the stale ones, which,
having lain a week, were removed, and eaten only by the priests, except
in cases of necessity (1Sa 21:3-6; also Lu 6:3, 4).
10. the son of an Israelitish woman, &c.--This passage narrates the
enactment of a new law, with a detail of the circumstances which gave
rise to it. The "mixed multitude" [Ex 12:38] that accompanied the
Israelites in their exodus from Egypt creates a presumption that
marriage connections of the kind described were not infrequent. And it
was most natural, in the relative circumstances of the two people, that
the father should be an Egyptian and the mother an Israelite.
11. And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord--A
youth of this half-blood, having quarrelled with an Israelite [Le
24:10], vented his rage in some horrid form of impiety. It was a common
practice among the Egyptians to curse their idols when disappointed in
obtaining the object of their petitions. The Egyptian mind of this
youth thought the greatest insult to his opponent was to blaspheme the
object of his religious reverence. He spoke disrespectfully of One who
sustained the double character of the King as well as the God of the
Hebrew people; as the offense was a new one, he was put in ward till
the mind of the Lord was ascertained as to his disposal.
14. Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp--All executions
took place without the camp; and this arrangement probably originated
in the idea that, as the Israelites were to be "a holy people" [De 7:6;
14:2, 21; 26:19; 28:9], all flagrant offenders should be thrust out of
their society.
let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, &c.--The
imposition of hands formed a public and solemn testimony against the
crime, and at the same time made the punishment legal.
16. as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he
blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death--Although
strangers were not obliged to be circumcised, yet by joining the
Israelitish camp, they became amenable to the law, especially that
which related to blasphemy.
17-22. he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death--These
verses contain a repetition of some other laws, relating to offenses of
a social nature, the penalties for which were to be inflicted, not by
the hand of private parties, but through the medium of the judges
before whom the cause was brought.
23. the children of Israel did as the Lord's commanded--The chapter
closes with the execution of Shelomith's son [Le 24:14]--and stoning
having afterwards become the established punishment in all cases of
blasphemy, it illustrates the fate of Stephen, who suffered under a
false imputation of that crime [Ac 7:58, 59].
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CHAPTER 25
Le 25:1-7. Sabbath of the Seventh Year.
2-4. When ye come into the land which I give you--It has been
questioned on what year, after the occupation of Canaan, the sabbatic
year began to be observed. Some think it was the seventh year after
their entrance. But others, considering that as the first six years
were spent in the conquest and division of the land (Jos 5:12), and
that the sabbatical year was to be observed after six years of
agriculture, maintain that the observance did not commence till the
fourteenth year.
the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord--This was a very peculiar
arrangement. Not only all agricultural processes were to be intermitted
every seventh year, but the cultivators had no right to the soil. It
lay entirely fallow, and its spontaneous produce was the common
property of the poor and the stranger, the cattle and game. This year
of rest was to invigorate the productive powers of the land, as the
weekly Sabbath was a refreshment to men and cattle. It commenced
immediately after the feast of ingathering, and it was calculated to
teach the people, in a remarkable manner, the reality of the presence
and providential power of God.
Le 25:8-23. The Jubilee.
8-11. thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years--This most
extraordinary of all civil institutions, which received the name of
"Jubilee" from a Hebrew word signifying a musical instrument, a horn or
trumpet, began on the tenth day of the seventh month, or the great day
of atonement, when, by order of the public authorities, the sound of
trumpets proclaimed the beginning of the universal redemption. All
prisoners and captives obtained their liberties, slaves were declared
free, and debtors were absolved. The land, as on the sabbatic year, was
neither sowed nor reaped, but allowed to enjoy with its inhabitants a
sabbath of repose; and its natural produce was the common property of
all. Moreover, every inheritance throughout the land of Judea was
restored to its original owner.
10. ye shall hallow the fiftieth year--Much difference of opinion
exists as to whether the jubilee was observed on the forty-ninth, or,
in round numbers, it is called the fiftieth. The prevailing opinion,
both in ancient and modern times, has been in favor of the latter.
12. ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field, &c.--All that
the ground yielded spontaneously during that period might be eaten for
their necessary subsistence, but no persons were at liberty to hoard or
form a private stock in reserve.
13. ye shall return every man unto his possession, &c.--Inheritances,
from whatever cause, and how frequently soever they had been alienated,
came back into the hands of the original proprietors. This law of
entail, by which the right heir could never be excluded, was a
provision of great wisdom for preserving families and tribes perfectly
distinct, and their genealogies faithfully recorded, in order that all
might have evidence to establish their right to the ancestral property.
Hence the tribe and family of Christ were readily discovered at his
birth.
17. Ye shall not oppress one another, but thou shalt fear thy
God--This, which is the same as Le 25:14, related to the sale or
purchase of possessions and the duty of paying an honest and equitable
regard, on both sides, to the limited period during which the bargain
could stand. The object of the legislator was, as far as possible, to
maintain the original order of families, and an equality of condition
among the people.
21, 22. I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it
shall bring forth fruit for three years, &c.--A provision was made, by
the special interposition of God, to supply the deficiency of food
which would otherwise have resulted from the suspension of all labor
during the sabbatic year. The sixth year was to yield a miraculous
supply for three continuous years. And the remark is applicable to the
year of Jubilee as well as the sabbatic year. (See allusions to this
extraordinary provision in 2Ki 19:29; Isa 37:30). None but a legislator
who was conscious of acting under divine authority would have staked
his character on so singular an enactment as that of the sabbatic year;
and none but a people who had witnessed the fulfilment of the divine
promise would have been induced to suspend their agricultural
preparations on a recurrence of a periodical Jubilee.
23-28. The land shall not be sold for ever--or, "be quite cut off," as
the Margin better renders it. The land was God's, and, in prosecution
of an important design, He gave it to the people of His choice,
dividing it among their tribes and families--who, however, held it of
Him merely as tenants-at-will and had no right or power of disposing of
it to strangers. In necessitous circumstances, individuals might effect
a temporary sale. But they possessed the right of redeeming it, at any
time, on payment of an adequate compensation to the present holder; and
by the enactments of the Jubilee they recovered it free--so that the
land was rendered inalienable. (See an exception to this law, Le
27:20).
29-31. if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may
redeem it within a whole year after it is sold--All sales of houses
were subject to the same condition. But there was a difference between
the houses of villages (which, being connected with agriculture, were
treated as parts of the land) and houses possessed by trading people or
foreigners in walled towns, which could only be redeemed within the
year after the sale; if not then redeemed, these did not revert to the
former owner at the Jubilee.
32-34. Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, &c.--The Levites,
having no possessions but their towns and their houses, the law
conferred on them the same privileges that were granted to the lands of
the other Israelites. A certain portion of the lands surrounding the
Levitical cities was appropriated to them for the pasturage of their
cattle and flocks (Nu 35:4, 5). This was a permanent endowment for the
support of the ministry and could not be alienated for any time. The
Levites, however, were at liberty to make exchanges among themselves;
and a priest might sell his house, garden, and right of pasture to
another priest, but not to an Israelite of another tribe (Jer 41:7-9).
35-38. if thy brother be waxen poor, ... relieve him--This was a most
benevolent provision for the poor and unfortunate, designed to aid them
or alleviate the evils of their condition. Whether a native Israelite
or a mere sojourner, his richer neighbor was required to give him food,
lodging, and a supply of money without usury. Usury was severely
condemned (Ps 15:5; Eze 18:8, 17), but the prohibition cannot be
considered as applicable to the modern practice of men in business,
borrowing and lending at legal rates of interest.
39-46. if thy brother ... be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, thou
shalt not compel him to serve as a bond-servant--An Israelite might be
compelled, through misfortune, not only to mortgage his inheritance,
but himself. In the event of his being reduced to this distress, he was
to be treated not as a slave, but a hired servant whose engagement was
temporary, and who might, through the friendly aid of a relative, be
redeemed at any time before the Jubilee. The ransom money was
determined on a most equitable principle. Taking account of the number
of years from the proposal to redeem and the Jubilee, of the current
wages of labor for that time, and multiplying the remaining years by
that sum, the amount was to be paid to the master for his redemption.
But if no such friendly interposition was made for a Hebrew slave, he
continued in servitude till the year of Jubilee, when, as a matter of
course, he regained his liberty, as well as his inheritance. Viewed in
the various aspects in which it is presented in this chapter, the
Jubilee was an admirable institution, and subservient in an eminent
degree to uphold the interests of religion, social order, and freedom
among the Israelites.
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CHAPTER 26
Le 26:1, 2. Of Idolatry.
1. Ye shall make you no idols--Idolatry had been previously forbidden
(Ex 20:4, 5), but the law was repeated here with reference to some
particular forms of it that were very prevalent among the neighboring
nations.
a standing image--that is, "upright pillar."
image of stone--that is, an obelisk, inscribed with hieroglyphical and
superstitious characters; the former denoting the common and smaller
pillars of the Syrians or Canaanites; the latter, pointing to the large
and elaborate obelisks which the Egyptians worshipped as guardian
divinities, or used as stones of adoration to stimulate religious
worship. The Israelites were enjoined to beware of them.
2. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary--Very
frequently, in this Book of the Law, the Sabbath and the sanctuary are
mentioned as antidotes to idolatry.
Le 26:3-13. A Blessing to the Obedient.
3. If ye walk in my statutes--In that covenant into which God
graciously entered with the people of Israel, He promised to bestow
upon them a variety of blessings, so long as they continued obedient to
Him as their Almighty Ruler; and in their subsequent history that
people found every promise amply fulfilled, in the enjoyment of plenty,
peace, a populous country, and victory over all enemies.
4. I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her
increase--Rain seldom fell in Judea except at two seasons--the former
rain at the end of autumn, the seedtime; and the latter rain in spring,
before the beginning of harvest (Jer 5:24).
5. your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall
reach unto the sowing time, &c.--The barley harvest in Judea was about
the middle of April; the wheat harvest about six weeks after, or in the
beginning of June. After the harvest came the vintage, and fruit
gathering towards the latter end of July. Moses led the Hebrews to
believe that, provided they were faithful to God, there would be no
idle time between the harvest and vintage, so great would be the
increase. (See Am 9:13). This promise would be very animating to a
people who had come from a country where, for three months, they were
pent up without being able to walk abroad because the fields were under
water.
10. ye shall eat old store--Their stock of old corn would be still
unexhausted and large when the next harvest brought a new supply.
13. I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright--a
metaphorical expression to denote their emancipation from Egyptian
slavery.
Le 26:14-39. A Curse to the Disobedient.
14, 15. But if ye will not hearken unto me, &c.--In proportion to the
great and manifold privileges bestowed upon the Israelites would be the
extent of their national criminality and the severity of their national
punishments if they disobeyed.
16. I will even appoint over you terror--the falling sickness
[Patrick].
consumption, and the burning ague--Some consider these as symptoms of
the same disease--consumption followed by the shivering, burning, and
sweating fits that are the usual concomitants of that malady. According
to the Septuagint, "ague" is "the jaundice," which disorders the eyes
and produces great depression of spirits. Others, however, consider the
word as referring to a scorching wind; no certain explanation can be
given.
18. if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish
you seven times more--that is, with far more severe and protracted
calamities.
19. I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass--No
figures could have been employed to convey a better idea of severe and
long-continued famine.
22. I will also send wild beasts among you--This was one of the four
judgments threatened (Eze 14:21; see also 2Ki 2:4).
your highways shall be desolate--Trade and commerce will be
destroyed--freedom and safety will be gone--neither stranger nor native
will be found on the roads (Isa 33:8). This is an exact picture of the
present state of the Holy Land, which has long lain in a state of
desolation, brought on by the sins of the ancient Jews.
26. ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, &c.--The bread used in
families is usually baked by women, and at home. But sometimes also, in
times of scarcity, it is baked in public ovens for want of fuel; and
the scarcity predicted here would be so great, that one oven would be
sufficient to bake as much as ten women used in ordinary occasions to
provide for family use; and even this scanty portion of bread would be
distributed by weight (Eze 4:16).
29. ye shall eat the flesh of your sons--The revolting picture was
actually exhibited at the siege of Samaria, at the siege of Jerusalem
by Nebuchadnezzar (La 4:10), and at the destruction of that city by the
Romans. (See on De 28:53).
30. I will destroy your high places--Consecrated enclosures on the tops
of mountains, or on little hillocks, raised for practising the rites of
idolatry.
cut down your images--According to some, those images were made in the
form of chariots (2Ki 23:11); according to others, they were of a
conical form, like small pyramids. Reared in honor of the sun, they
were usually placed on a very high situation, to enable the worshippers
to have a better view of the rising sun. They were forbidden to the
Israelites, and when set up, ordered to be destroyed.
cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, &c.--Like the
statues of idols, which, when broken, lie neglected and contemned, the
Jews during the sieges and subsequent captivity often wanted the rites
of sepulture.
31. I will make your cities waste--This destruction of its numerous and
flourishing cities, which was brought upon Judea through the sins of
Israel, took place by the forced removal of the people during, and long
after, the captivity. But it is realized to a far greater extent now.
bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour
of your sweet odours--the tabernacle and temple, as is evident from the
tenor of the subsequent clause, in which God announces that He will not
accept or regard their sacrifices.
33. I will scatter you among the heathen, &c.--as was done when the
elite of the nation were removed into Assyria and placed in various
parts of the kingdom.
34. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth
desolate, &c.--A long arrear of sabbatic years had accumulated through
the avarice and apostasy of the Israelites, who had deprived their land
of its appointed season of rest. The number of those sabbatic years
seems to have been seventy, as determined by the duration of the
captivity. This early prediction is very remarkable, considering that
the usual policy of the Assyrian conquerors was to send colonies to
cultivate and inhabit their newly acquired provinces.
38. the land of your enemies shall eat you up, &c.--On the removal of
the ten tribes into captivity, they never returned, and all traces of
them were lost.
40-45. If they shall confess their iniquity, &c.--This passage holds
out the gracious promise of divine forgiveness and favor on their
repentance, and their happy restoration to their land, in memory of the
covenant made with their fathers (Ro 2:1-29).
46. These are the statutes and judgments and laws--It has been thought
by some that the last chapter was originally placed after the
twenty-fifth [Adam Clarke], while others consider that the next chapter
was added as an appendix, in consequence of many people being
influenced by the promises and threats of the preceding one, to resolve
that they would dedicate themselves and their possessions to the
service of God [Calmet].
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CHAPTER 27
Le 27:1-18. Concerning Vows.
2-8. When a man shall make a singular vow, &c.--Persons have, at all
times and in all places, been accustomed to present votive offerings,
either from gratitude for benefits received, or in the event of
deliverance from apprehended evil. And Moses was empowered, by divine
authority, to prescribe the conditions of this voluntary duty.
the persons shall be for the Lord, &c.--better rendered
thus:--"According to thy estimation, the persons shall be for the
Lord." Persons might consecrate themselves or their children to the
divine service, in some inferior or servile kind of work about the
sanctuary (1Sa 3:1). In the event of any change, the persons so devoted
had the privilege in their power of redeeming themselves; and this
chapter specifies the amount of the redemption money, which the priest
had the discretionary power of reducing, as circumstances might seem to
require. Those of mature age, between twenty and sixty, being capable
of the greatest service, were rated highest; young people, from five
till twenty, less, because not so serviceable; infants, though
devotable by their parents before birth (1Sa 1:11), could not be
offered nor redeemed till a month after birth; old people were valued
below the young, but above children; and the poor--in no case freed
from payment, in order to prevent the rash formation of vows--were
rated according to their means.
9-13. if it be a beast, whereof men bring an offering unto the Lord--a
clean beast. After it had been vowed, it could neither be employed in
common purposes nor exchanged for an equivalent--it must be
sacrificed--or if, through some discovered blemish, it was unsuitable
for the altar, it might be sold, and the money applied for the sacred
service. If an unclean beast--such as an ass or camel, for instance,
had been vowed, it was to be appropriated to the use of the priest at
the estimated value, or it might be redeemed by the person vowing on
payment of that value, and the additional fine of a fifth more.
14, 15. when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto the Lord,
&c.--In this case, the house having been valued by the priest and sold,
the proceeds of the sale were to be dedicated to the sanctuary. But if
the owner wished, on second thought, to redeem it, he might have it by
adding a fifth part to the price.
16-24. if a man shall sanctify unto the Lord some aprt of a field of
his possession, &c.--In the case of acquired property in land, if not
redeemed, it returned to the donor at the Jubilee; whereas the part of
a hereditary estate, which had been vowed, did not revert to the owner,
but remained attached in perpetuity to the sanctuary. The reason for
this remarkable difference was to lay every man under an obligation to
redeem the property, or stimulate his nearest kinsman to do it, in
order to prevent a patrimonial inheritance going out from any family in
Israel.
26, 27. Only the firstling of the beasts--These, in the case of clean
beasts, being consecrated to God by a universal and standing law (Ex
13:12; 34:19), could not be devoted; and in that of unclean beasts,
were subject to the rule mentioned (Le 27:11, 12).
28, 29. no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the Lord of all
that he hath, ... shall be sold or redeemed--This relates to vows of
the most solemn kind--the devotee accompanying his vow with a solemn
imprecation on himself not to fail in accomplishing his declared
purpose.
29. shall surely be put to death--This announcement imported not that
the person was to be sacrificed or doomed to a violent death; but only
that he should remain till death unalterably in the devoted condition.
The preceding regulations were evidently designed to prevent rashness
in vowing (Ec 5:4) and to encourage serious and considerate reflection
in all matters between God and the soul (Lu 21:4).
30-33. all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land--This
law gave the sanction of divine authority to an ancient usage (Ge
14:20; 28:22). The whole produce of the land was subjected to the tithe
tribute--it was a yearly rent which the Israelites, as tenants, paid to
God, the owner of the land, and a thank offering they rendered to Him
for the bounties of His providence. (See Pr 3:9; 1Co 9:11; Ga 6:6).
32. whatsoever passeth under the rod, &c.--This alludes to the mode of
taking the tithe of cattle, which were made to pass singly through a
narrow gateway, where a person with a rod, dipped in ochre, stood, and
counting them, marked the back of every tenth beast, whether male or
female, sound or unsound.
34. These are the commandments, &c.--The laws contained in this book,
for the most part ceremonial, had an important spiritual bearing, the
study of which is highly instructive (Ro 10:4; Heb 4:2; 12:18). They
imposed a burdensome yoke (Ac 15:10), but yet in the infantine age of
the Church formed the necessary discipline of "a schoolmaster to
Christ" [Ga 3:24].
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THE FOURTH BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED
NUMBERS.
Commentary by Robert Jamieson
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CHAPTER 1
Nu 1:1-54. Moses Numbering the Men of War.
1, 2. on the first day of the second month, &c.--Thirteen months had
elapsed since the exodus. About one month had been occupied in the
journey; and the rest of the period had been passed in encampment among
the recesses of Sinai, where the transactions took place, and the laws,
religious and civil, were promulgated, which are contained in the two
preceding books. As the tabernacle was erected on the first day of the
first month, and the order here mentioned was given on the first day of
the second, some think the laws in Leviticus were all given in one
month. The Israelites having been formed into a separate nation, under
the special government of God as their King, it was necessary, before
resuming their march towards the promised land, to put them into good
order. And accordingly Moses was commissioned, along with Aaron, to
take a census of the people. This census was incidentally noticed (Ex
38:26), in reference to the poll tax for the works of the tabernacle;
but it is here described in detail, in order to show the relative
increase and military strength of the different tribes. The enumeration
was confined to those capable of bearing arms [Nu 1:3], and it was to
be made with a careful distinction of the tribe, family, and household
to which every individual belonged. By this rule of summation many
important advantages were secured: an exact genealogical register was
formed, the relative strength of each tribe was ascertained, and the
reason found for arranging the order of precedence in march as well as
disposing the different tribes in camp around the tabernacle. The
promise of God to Abraham [Ge 22:17] was seen to be fulfilled in the
extraordinary increase of his posterity, and provision made for tracing
the regular descent of the Messiah.
3. Aaron shall number them by their armies--or companies. In their
departure from Egypt they were divided into five grand companies (Ex
13:18), but from the sojourn in the wilderness to the passage of the
Jordan, they were formed into four great divisions. The latter is here
referred to.
4-16. with you there shall be a man of every tribe, &c.--The social
condition of the Israelites in the wilderness bore a close resemblance
to that of the nomad tribes of the East in the present day. The head of
the tribe was a hereditary dignity, vested in the oldest son or some
other to whom the right of primogeniture was transferred, and under
whom were other inferior heads, also hereditary, among the different
branches of the tribe. The Israelites being divided into twelve tribes,
there were twelve chiefs appointed to assist in taking the census of
the people.
5. these are the names of the men that shall stand with you, &c.--Each
is designated by adding the name of the ancestors of his tribe, the
people of which were called "Beni-Reuben," "Beni-Levi," sons of Reuben,
sons of Levi, according to the custom of the Arabs still, as well as
other nations which are divided into clans, as the Macs of Scotland,
the Aps of Wales, and the O's and the Fitzes of Ireland [Chalmers].
16-18. These were the renowned--literally, "the called" of the
congregation, summoned by name; and they entered upon the survey the
very day the order was given.
18. by their polls--individually, one by one.
19. As the Lord commanded Moses, &c.--The numbering of the people was
not an act sinful in itself, as Moses did it by divine appointment; but
David incurred guilt by doing it without the authority of God. (See on
2Sa 24:10).
20-44. These are those that were numbered--In this registration the
tribe of Judah appears the most numerous; and accordingly, as the
pre-eminence had been assigned to it by Jacob [Ge 49:8-12], it got the
precedence in all the encampments of Israel. Of the two half-tribes of
Joseph, who is seen to be "a fruitful bough" [Ge 49:22], that of
Ephraim was the larger, as had been predicted. The relative increase of
all, as in the two just mentioned, was owing to the special blessing of
God, conformably to the prophetic declaration of the dying patriarch.
But the divine blessing is usually conveyed through the influence of
secondary causes; and there is reason to believe that the relative
populousness of the tribes would, under God, depend upon the
productiveness of the respective localities assigned to them. [For
tabular chart, see on Nu 26:64.]
45, 46. all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand,
&c.--What an astonishing increase from seventy-five persons who went
down to Egypt about two hundred fifteen years before [see on Ge 46:8],
and who were subjected to the greatest privations and hardships! And
yet this enumeration was restricted to men from twenty years and
upwards [Nu 1:3]. Including women, children, and old men, together with
the Levites, the whole population of Israel, on the ordinary principles
of computation, amounted to about 2,400,000.
47-54. But the Levites ... were not numbered among them--They were
obliged to keep a register of their own. They were consecrated to the
priestly office, which in all countries has been exempted customarily,
and in Israel by the express authority of God, from military service.
The custody of the things devoted to the divine service was assigned to
them so exclusively, that "no stranger"--that is, no person, not even
an Israelite of any other tribe, was allowed, under penalty of death,
to approach these [Nu 16:40]. Hence they encamped round the tabernacle
in order that there should be no manifestation of the divine
displeasure among the people. Thus the numbering of the people was
subservient to the separation of the Levites from those Israelites who
were fit for military service, and to the practical introduction of the
law respecting the first-born, for whom the tribe of Levi became a
substitute [Ex 13:2; Nu 3:12].
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CHAPTER 2
Nu 2:1-34. The Order of the Tribes in Their Tents.
2. Every man ... shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of
their father's house--Standards were visible signs of a certain
recognized form for directing the movements of large bodies of people.
As the Israelites were commanded to encamp "each by his own standard,
with the ensign of their father's house," the direction has been
considered as implying that they possessed three varieties: (1) the
great tribal standards, which served as rallying points for the twelve
large clans of the people; (2) the standards of the subdivided
portions; and, (3) those of families or houses. The latter must have
been absolutely necessary, as one ensign only for a tribe would not
have been visible at the extremities of so large a body. We possess no
authentic information as to their forms, material, colors, and devices.
But it is probable that they might bear some resemblance to those of
Egypt, only stripped of any idolatrous symbols. These were of an
umbrella or a fanlike form, made of ostrich feathers, shawls, &c.,
lifted on the points of long poles, which were borne, either like the
sacred central one, on a car, or on men's shoulders, while others might
be like the beacon lights which are set on poles by Eastern pilgrims at
night. Jewish writers say that the standards of the Hebrew tribes were
symbols borrowed from the prophetic blessing of Jacob--Judah's being a
lion, Benjamin's a wolf, &c. [Ge 49:3-24]; and that the ensigns or
banners were distinguished by their colors--the colors of each tribe
being the same as that of the precious stone representing that tribe in
the breastplate of the high priest [Ex 28:17-21].
far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch--that
is, "over against," at a reverential distance. The place of every tribe
is successively and specifically described because each had a certain
part assigned both in the order of march and the disposition of the
encampment.
3. on the east side toward the rising of the sun shall they of the
standard of the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies--Judah,
placed at the head of a camp composed of three tribes rallying under
its standard, was said to have combined the united colors in the high
priest's breastplate, but called by the name of Judah. They were
appointed to occupy the east side and to take the lead in the march,
which, for the most part, was in an easterly direction.
Nahshon--or Naasson (Mt 1:4; Lu 3:32, 33).
shall be captain--It appears that the twelve men who were called to
superintend the census were also appointed to be the captains of their
respective tribes--a dignity which they owed probably to the
circumstances, formerly noticed, of their holding the hereditary office
of head or "prince."
5. those that pitch next unto him--that is, on the one side.
7. Then the tribe of Zebulun--on the other side. While Judah's tribe
was the most numerous, those of Issachar and Zebulun were also very
numerous; so that the association of those three tribes formed a strong
and imposing van.
10-31. On the south side the standard of the camp of Reuben--The
description given of the position of Reuben and his attendant tribes on
the south, of Ephraim and his associates on the west, of Dan and his
confederates on the north, with that of Judah on the east, suggests the
idea of a square or quadrangle, which, allowing one square cubit to
each soldier while remaining close in the ranks, has been computed to
extend over an area of somewhat more than twelve square miles. But into
our calculations of the occupied space must be taken not only the
fighting men, whose numbers are here given, but also the families,
tents, and baggage. The tabernacle or sacred tent of their Divine King,
with the camp of the Levites around it (see on Nu 3:38), formed the
center, as does the chief's in the encampment of all nomad people. In
marching, this order was adhered to, with some necessary variations.
Judah led the way, followed, it is most probable, by Issachar and
Zebulun [Nu 10:14-16]. Reuben, Simeon, and Gad formed the second great
division [Nu 10:18-20]. They were followed by the central company,
composed of the Levites, bearing the tabernacle [Nu 10:21]. Then the
third and posterior squadron consisted of Ephraim, Manasseh, and
Benjamin [Nu 10:22-24], while the hindmost place was assigned to Dan,
Asher, and Naphtali [Nu 10:25-27]. Thus Judah's, which was the most
numerous, formed the van: and Dan's, which was the next in force,
brought up the rear; while Reuben's and Ephraim's, with the tribes
associated with them respectively, being the smallest and weakest, were
placed in the center. (See on Nu 10:13).
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CHAPTER 3
Nu 3:1-51. The Levites' Service.
1. These ... are the generations of Aaron and Moses, &c.--This chapter
contains an account of their families; and although that of Moses is
not detailed like his brother's, his children are included under the
general designation of the Amramites (Nu 3:27), a term which
comprehends all the descendants of their common father Amram. The
reason why the family of Moses was so undistinguished in this record is
that they were in the private ranks of the Levites, the dignity of the
priesthood being conferred exclusively on the posterity of Aaron; and
hence, as the sacerdotal order is the subject of this chapter, Aaron,
contrary to the usual style of the sacred history, is mentioned before
Moses.
in the day that the Lord spake with Moses in mount Sinai--This is
added, because at the date of the following record the family of Aaron
was unbroken.
2-4. And these are the names of the sons of Aaron--All the sons of
Aaron, four in number, were consecrated to minister in the priest's
office. The two oldest enjoyed but a brief term of office (Le 10:1, 2;
Nu 3:4; 26:61); but Eleazar and Ithamar, the other two, were dutiful,
and performed the sacred service during the lifetime of their father,
as his assistants, and under his superintendence.
5-10. Bring the tribe of Levi near--The Hebrew word "bring near" is a
sacrificial term, denoting the presentation of an offering to God; and
the use of the word, therefore, in connection with the Levites,
signifies that they were devoted as an offering to the sanctuary, no
longer to be employed in any common offices. They were subordinate to
the priests, who alone enjoyed the privilege of entering the holy
place; but they were employed in discharging many of the humbler duties
which belonged to the sanctuary, as well as in various offices of great
utility and importance to the religion and morals of the people.
9. they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel,
&c.--The priests hold the place of God, and the Levites are the
servants of God in the obedience they render to the priests.
11-13. I have taken the Levites, &c.--The consecration of this tribe
did not originate in the legislative wisdom of Moses, but in the
special appointment of God, who chose them as substitutes for the
first-born. By an appointment made in memory of the last solemn
judgment on Egypt (from which the Israelitish households were
miraculously exempt) all the first-born were consecrated to God (Ex
13:12; 22:29), who thus, under peculiar circumstances, seemed to adopt
the patriarchal usage of appointing the oldest to act as the priest of
the family. But the privilege of redemption that was allowed the
first-born opened the way for a change; and accordingly, on the full
organization of the Mosaic economy, the administration of sacred things
formerly committed to the first-born was transferred from them to the
Levites, who received that honor partly as a tribute to Moses and
Aaron, partly because this tribe had distinguished themselves by their
zeal in the affair of the golden calf (Ex 32:29), and also because,
being the smallest of the tribes, they could ill find suitable
employment and support in the work. (See on De 33:8). The designation
of a special class for the sacred offices of religion was a wise
arrangement; for, on their settlement in Canaan, the people would be so
occupied that they might not be at leisure to wait on the service of
the sanctuary, and sacred things might, from various causes, fall into
neglect. But the appointment of an entire tribe to the divine service
ensured the regular performance of the rites of religion. The
subsequent portion of the chapter relates to the formal substitution of
this tribe.
I am the Lord--that is, I decree it to be so; and being possessed of
sovereign authority, I expect full obedience.
14-31. Number the children of Levi--They were numbered as well as the
other tribes; but the enumeration was made on a different
principle--for while in the other tribes the number of males was
calculated from twenty years and upward [Nu 1:3], in that of Levi they
were counted "from a month old and upward." The reason for the
distinction is obvious. In the other tribes the survey was made for
purposes of war [Nu 1:3], from which the Levites were totally exempt.
But the Levites were appointed to a work on which they entered as soon
as they were capable of instruction. They are mentioned under the names
of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, sons of Levi, and chiefs or ancestral
heads of three subdivisions into which this tribe was distributed.
Their duties were to assist in the conveyance of the tabernacle when
the people were removing the various encampments, and to form its guard
while stationary--the Gershonites being stationed on the west, the
Kohathites on the south, and the families of Merari on the north. The
Kohathites had the principal place about the tabernacle, and charge of
the most precious and sacred things--a distinction with which they were
honored, probably, because the Aaronic family belonged to this division
of the Levitical tribe. The Gershonites, being the oldest, had the next
honorable post assigned them, while the burden of the drudgery was
thrown on the division of Merari.
32. chief--rather, "chiefs" of the Levites. Three persons are mentioned
as chiefs of these respective divisions [Nu 3:24, 30, 35]. And Eleazar
presided over them; whence he is called "the second priest" (2Ki
25:18); and in the case of the high priest's absence from illness or
other necessary occasions, he performed the duties (1Ki 4:4).
38. those that encamp, &c.--That being the entrance side, it was the
post of honor, and consequently reserved to Moses and the priestly
family. But the sons of Moses had no station here.
39. twenty and two thousand--The result of this census, though made on
conditions most advantageous to Levi, proved it to be by far the
smallest in Israel. The separate numbers stated in Nu 3:22, 28, 34,
when added together, amount to twenty-two thousand three hundred. The
omission of the three hundred is variously accounted for--by some,
because they might be first-born who were already devoted to God and
could not be counted as substitutes; and by others, because in
Scripture style, the sum is reckoned in round numbers. The most
probable conjecture is, that as Hebrew letters are employed for
figures, one letter was, in the course of transcription, taken for
another of like form but smaller value.
40-51. Number all the first-born of the males of the children of
Israel, &c.--The principle on which the enumeration of the Levites had
been made was now to be applied to the other tribes. The number of
their male children, from a month old and upward, was to be reckoned,
in order that a comparison might be instituted with that of the
Levites, for the formal adoption of the latter as substitutes for the
first-born. The Levites, amounting to twenty-two thousand, were given
in exchange for an equal number of the first-born from the other
tribes, leaving an excess of two hundred seventy-three; and as there
were no substitutes for these, they were redeemed at the rate of five
shekels for each (Nu 18:15, 16). Every Israelite would naturally wish
that his son might be redeemed by a Levite without the payment of this
tax, and yet some would have to incur the expense, for there were not
Levites enough to make an equal exchange. Jewish writers say the matter
was determined by lot, in this manner: Moses put into an urn twenty-two
thousand pieces of parchment, on each of which he wrote "a son of
Levi," and two hundred seventy-three more, containing the words, "five
shekels." These being shaken, he ordered each of the first-born to put
in his hand and take out a slip. If it contained the first inscription,
the boy was redeemed by a Levite; if the latter, the parent had to pay.
The ransom-money, which, reckoning the shekel at half a crown, would
amount to 12s. 6d. each, was appropriated to the use of the sanctuary.
The excess of the general over the Levitical first-born is so small,
that the only way of accounting for it is, by supposing those
first-born only were counted as were males remaining in their parents'
household, or that those first-born only were numbered which had been
born since the departure from Egypt, when God claimed all the
first-born as his special property.
41. the cattle of the Levites--These, which they kept to graze on the
glebes and meadows in the suburbs of their cities, to supply their
families with dairy produce and animal food, were also taken as an
equivalent for all the firstlings of the cattle which the Israelites at
that time possessed. In consequence of this exchange the firstlings
were not brought then, as afterwards, to the altar and the priests.
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CHAPTER 4
Nu 4:1-49. Of the Levites' Service.
2, 3. sons of Kohath, from thirty years old and upward--This age was
specifically fixed (see on Nu 8:24) as the full maturity of bodily
energy to perform the laborious duties assigned them in the wilderness,
as well as of mental activity to assist in the management of the sacred
services. And it was the period of life at which John the Baptist and
Christ entered on their respective ministries.
even unto fifty--The term prescribed for active duty was a period of
twenty years, at the end of which they were exempted from the physical
labors of the office, though still expected to attend in the tabernacle
(Nu 8:26).
all that enter into the host--so called from their number, the order
and discipline maintained through their ranks, and their special duty
as guards of the tabernacle. The Hebrew word, however, signifies also a
station or office; and hence the passage may be rendered, "All that
enter into the sacerdotal office" (Nu 4:23).
4-15. This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath, &c.--They are
mentioned first, from their close connection with Aaron; and the
special department of duty assigned to them during the journeyings of
Israel accorded with the charge they had received of the precious
contents of the tabernacle. But these were to be previously covered by
the common priests, who, as well as the high priest, were admitted on
such necessary occasions into the holy place. This was an exception to
the general rule, which prohibited the entrance of any but the high
priest. But when the cloud removed from the tabernacle, the sanctuary
might be entered by the common priests, as to them was reserved the
exclusive privilege of packing the sacred utensils; and it was not till
the holy things were thus ready for carriage, that the Kohathites were
allowed to approach.
5. covering veil--the inner veil, which separated the holy from the
most holy place. (See on Ex 36:35).
6. covering of badgers' skins--(See on Ex 25:5). The covering, however,
referred to was not that of the tabernacle, but one made for the
special purpose of protecting the ark.
put in the staves--These golden staves were now taken out. (See on Ex
25:15, compared with 1Ki 8:8). The Hebrew word rendered "put in,"
signifies also "dispose," and probably refers here to their insertion
through the openings in the coverings made for receiving them, to
preserve them from the touch of the carriers as well as from the
influence of the weather. It is worthy of notice that the coverings did
not consist of canvas or coarse tarpaulin, but of a kind which united
beauty with decency.
7. continual showbread--Though the people were in the wilderness fed
upon manna, the sacred loaves were constantly made of corn, which was
probably raised in small quantities from the verdant patches of the
desert.
10. a bar--or bier, formed of two poles fastened by two cross pieces
and borne by two men, after the fashion of a sedan chair.
12. instruments of ministry--the official dress of the priests (Ex
31:10).
13. shall take away the ashes from the altar, &c.--The necessity of
removing ashes from the altar plainly implies that sacrifices were
offered in the wilderness (compare Ex 18:12; 24:4), though that
rebellious race seems frequently to have neglected the duty (Am 5:25).
No mention is made of the sacred fire; but as, by divine command, it
was to be kept constantly burning, it must have been transferred to
some pan or brazier under the covering, and borne by the appointed
carriers.
15. the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it, but they shall not touch
any holy thing, lest they die--The mode of transport was upon the
shoulders of the Levites (see on Nu 7:9), although afterwards wheeled
vehicles were employed (2Sa 6:3; 1Ch 15:12). And it was allowed to
touch the covering, but not the things covered, on the penalty of
death, which was inflicted more than once (1Sa 6:19; 2Sa 6:6, 7). This
stern denunciation was designed to inspire a sentiment of deep and
habitual reverence in the minds of those who were officially engaged
about holy things.
16. to the office of Eleazar ... pertaineth the oil for the light, and
the sweet incense, &c.--He was charged with the special duty of
superintending the squadron who were employed in the carrying of the
sacred furniture; besides, to his personal care were committed the
materials requisite for the daily service, and which it was necessary
he should have easily at his command (Ex 29:38).
17-20. Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from
among the Levites, &c.--a solemn admonition to Moses and Aaron to
beware, lest, by any negligence on their part, disorder and
improprieties should creep in, and to take the greatest care that all
the parts of this important service be apportioned to the proper
parties, lest the Kohathites should be disqualified for their high and
honorable duties. The guilt of their death would be incurred by the
superintending priest, if he failed to give proper directions or
allowed any irreverent familiarity with sacred things.
24-28. This is the service of the families of the Gershonites,
&c.--They were appointed to carry "the curtains of the
tabernacle"--that is, the goats' hair covering of the tent--the ten
curious curtains and embroidered hangings at the entrance, with their
red morocco covering, &c.
28. their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron,
&c.--The Levites were generally subject to the official command of the
priests in doing the ordinary work of the tabernacle. But during the
journeyings Eleazar, who was next in succession to his father, took the
special charge of the Kohathites [Nu 4:16], while his brother Ithamar
had the superintendence of the Gershonites and Merarites [Nu 4:33].
29-33. As for the sons of Merari--They carried the coarser and heavier
appurtenances, which, however, were so important and necessary, that an
inventory was kept of them--not only on account of their number and
variety, but of their comparative commonness and smallness, which might
have led to their being lost or missing through carelessness,
inadvertency, or neglect. It was a useful lesson, showing that God
disregards nothing pertaining to His service, and that even in the
least and most trivial matters, He requires the duty of faithful
obedience.
34-49. Moses and Aaron and the chief of the congregation numbered the
sons of the Kohathites, &c.--This enumeration was made on a different
principle from that which is recorded in the preceding chapter [Nu
3:15]. That was confined to the males from a month old and upward,
while this was extended to all capable of service in the three classes
of the Levitical tribe. In considering their relative numbers, the
wisdom of Divine Providence appears in arranging that, whereas in the
Kohathites and Gershonites, whose burdens were few and easier, there
were but about a third part of them which were fit for service; the
Merarites, whose burdens were more and heavier, had above one half of
them fit for this work [Poole]. The small population of this tribe, so
inferior to that of the other tribes, is attempted to be explained (see
on Nu 3:39).
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CHAPTER 5
Nu 5:1-4. The Unclean to Be Removed out of the Camp.
2. Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every
leper--The exclusion of leprous persons from the camp in the
wilderness, as from cities and villages afterwards, was a sanitary
measure taken according to prescribed rules (Le 13:1-14:57). This
exclusion of lepers from society has been acted upon ever since; and it
affords almost the only instance in which any kind of attention is paid
in the East to the prevention of contagion. The usage still more or
less prevails in the East among people who do not think the least
precaution against the plague or cholera necessary; but judging from
personal observation, we think that in Asia the leprosy has now much
abated in frequency and virulence. It usually appears in a
comparatively mild form in Egypt, Palestine, and other countries where
the disorder is, or was, endemic. Small societies of excluded lepers
live miserably in paltry huts. Many of them are beggars, going out into
the roads to solicit alms, which they receive in a wooden bowl;
charitable people also sometimes bring different articles of food,
which they leave on the ground at a short distance from the hut of the
lepers, for whom it is intended. They are generally obliged to wear a
distinctive badge that people may know them at first sight and be
warned to avoid them. Other means were adopted among the ancient Jews
by putting their hand on their mouth and crying, "Unclean, unclean" [Le
13:45]. But their general treatment, as to exclusion from society, was
the same as now described. The association of the lepers, however, in
this passage, with those who were subject only to ceremonial
uncleanness, shows that one important design in the temporary exile of
such persons was to remove all impurities that reflected dishonor on
the character and residence of Israel's King. And this vigilant care to
maintain external cleanliness in the people was typically designed to
teach them the practice of moral purity, or cleansing themselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. The regulations made for
ensuring cleanliness in the camp suggest the adoption of similar means
for maintaining purity in the church. And although, in large
communities of Christians, it may be often difficult or delicate to do
this, the suspension or, in flagrant cases of sin, the total
excommunication of the offender from the privileges and communion of
the church is an imperative duty, as necessary to the moral purity of
the Christian as the exclusion of the leper from the camp was to
physical health and ceremonial purity in the Jewish church.
Nu 5:5-10. Restitution Enjoined.
6-8. When a man or a woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do
a trespass against the Lord--This is a wrong or injury done by one man
to the property of another, and as it is called "a trespass against the
Lord," it is implied, in the case supposed, that the offense has been
aggravated by prevaricating--by a false oath, or a fraudulent lie in
denying it, which is a "trespass" committed against God, who is the
sole judge of what is falsely sworn or spoken (Ac 5:3, 4).
and that person be guilty--that is, from the obvious tenor of the
passage, conscience-smitten, or brought to a sense and conviction of
his evil conduct. (See on Le 6:2). In that case, there must be: first,
confession, a penitential acknowledgment of sin; secondly, restitution
of the property, or the giving of an equivalent, with the additional
fine of a fifth part, both as a compensation to the person defrauded,
and as a penalty inflicted on the injurer, to deter others from the
commission of similar trespasses. (See on Ex 22:1). The difference
between the law recorded in that passage and this is that the one was
enacted against flagrant and determined thieves, the other against
those whose necessities might have urged them into fraud, and whose
consciences were distressed by their sin. This law also supposes the
injured party to be dead, in which case, the compensation due to his
representatives was to be paid to the priest, who, as God's deputy,
received the required satisfaction.
9, 10. every offering ... shall be his--Whatever was given in this way,
or otherwise, as by freewill offerings, irrevocably belonged to the
priest.
Nu 5:11-31. The Trial of Jealousy.
12-15. if any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against
him--This law was given both as a strong discouragement to conjugal
infidelity on the part of a wife, and a sufficient protection of her
from the consequences of a hasty and groundless suspicion on the part
of the husband. His suspicions, however, were sufficient in the absence
of witnesses (Le 20:10) to warrant the trial described; and the course
of proceeding to be followed was for the jealous husband to bring his
wife unto the priest with an offering of barley meal, because none were
allowed to approach the sanctuary empty handed (Ex 23:15). On other
occasions, there were mingled with the offering, oil which signified
joy, and frankincense which denoted acceptance (Ps 141:2). But on the
occasion referred to, both these ingredients were to be excluded,
partly because it was a solemn appeal to God in distressing
circumstances, and partly because it was a sin offering on the part of
the wife, who came before God in the character of a real or suspected
offender.
17, 18. the priest shall take holy water--Water from the laver, which
was to be mixed with dust--an emblem of vileness and misery (Ge 3:14;
Ps 22:15).
in an earthen vessel--This fragile ware was chosen because, after being
used, it was broken in pieces (Le 6:28; 11:33). All the circumstances
of this awful ceremony--her being placed with her face toward the
ark--her uncovered head, a sign of her being deprived of the protection
of her husband (1Co 11:7)--the bitter potion being put into her hands
preparatory to an appeal to God--the solemn adjuration of the priest
(Nu 5:19-22), all were calculated in no common degree to excite and
appall the imagination of a person conscious of guilt.
21. The Lord make thee a curse, &c.--a usual form of imprecation (Isa
65:15; Jer 29:22).
22. the woman shall say, Amen, Amen--The Israelites were accustomed,
instead of formally repeating the words of an oath merely to say,
"Amen," a "so be it" to the imprecations it contained. The
reduplication of the word was designed as an evidence of the woman's
innocence, and a willingness that God would do to her according to her
desert.
23, 24. write these curses in a book--The imprecations, along with her
name, were inscribed in some kind of record--on parchment, or more
probably on a wooden tablet.
blot them out with the bitter water--If she were innocent, they could
be easily erased, and were perfectly harmless; but if guilty, she would
experience the fatal effects of the water she had drunk.
29. This is the law of jealousies--Adultery discovered and proved was
punished with death. But strongly suspected cases would occur, and this
law made provision for the conviction of the guilty person. It was,
however, not a trial conducted according to the forms of judicial
process, but an ordeal through which a suspected adulteress was made to
go--the ceremony being of that terrifying nature, that, on the known
principles of human nature, guilt or innocence could not fail to
appear. From the earliest times, the jealousy of Eastern people has
established ordeals for the detection and punishment of suspected
unchastity in wives. The practice was deep-rooted as well as universal.
And it has been thought, that the Israelites being strongly biassed in
favor of such usages, this law of jealousies "was incorporated among
the other institutions of the Mosaic economy, in order to free it from
the idolatrous rites which the heathens had blended with it." Viewed in
this light, its sanction by divine authority in a corrected and
improved form exhibits a proof at once of the wisdom and condescension
of God.
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CHAPTER 6
Nu 6:1-22. The Law of the Nazarite in His Separation.
2-8. When either man or woman ... shall vow a vow of a Nazarite--that
is, "a separated one," from a Hebrew word, "to separate." It was used
to designate a class of persons who, under the impulse of extraordinary
piety and with a view to higher degrees of religious improvement,
voluntarily renounced the occupations and pleasures of the world to
dedicate themselves unreservedly to the divine service. The vow might
be taken by either sex, provided they had the disposal of themselves
(Nu 30:4), and for a limited period--usually a month or a lifetime (Jud
13:5; 16:17). We do not know, perhaps, the whole extent of abstinence
they practised. But they separated themselves from three things in
particular--namely, from wine, and all the varieties of vinous produce;
from the application of a razor to their head, allowing their hair to
grow; and from pollution by a dead body. The reasons of the
self-restrictions are obvious. The use of wine tended to inflame the
passions, intoxicate the brain, and create a taste for luxurious
indulgence. The cutting off the hair being a recognized sign of
uncleanness (Le 14:8, 9), its unpolled luxuriance was a symbol of the
purity he professed. Besides, its extraordinary length kept him in
constant remembrance of his vow, as well as stimulated others to
imitate his pious example. Moreover, contact with a dead body,
disqualifying for the divine service, the Nazarite carefully avoided
such a cause of unfitness, and, like the high priest, did not assist at
the funeral rites of his nearest relatives, preferring his duty to God
to the indulgence of his strongest natural affections.
9-12. If any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head
of his consecration--Cases of sudden death might occur to make him
contract pollution; and in such circumstances he was required, after
shaving his head, to make the prescribed offerings necessary for the
removal of ceremonial defilement (Le 15:13; Nu 19:11). But by the terms
of this law an accidental defilement vitiated the whole of his previous
observances, and he was required to begin the period of his Nazaritism
afresh. But even this full completion did not supersede the necessity
of a sin offering at the close. Sin mingles with our best and holiest
performances, and the blood of sprinkling is necessary to procure
acceptance to us and our services.
13-20. when the days of his separation are fulfilled, &c.--On the
accomplishment of a limited vow of Nazaritism, Nazarites might cut
their hair wherever they happened to be (Ac 18:18); but the hair was to
be carefully kept and brought to the door of the sanctuary. Then after
the presentation of sin offerings and burnt offerings, it was put under
the vessel in which the peace offerings were boiled; and the priest,
taking the shoulder (Le 7:32), when boiled, and a cake and wafer of the
meat offering, put them on the hands of the Nazarites to wave before
the Lord, as a token of thanksgiving, and thus released them from their
vow.
Nu 6:23-27. The Form of Blessing the People.
23-27. Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye
shall bless the congregation of Israel, &c.--This passage records the
solemn benediction which God appointed for dismissing the people at the
close of the daily service. The repetition of the name "Lord" or
"Jehovah" three times, expresses the great mystery of the
Godhead--three persons, and yet one God. The expressions in the
separate clauses correspond to the respective offices of the Father, to
"bless and keep us"; of the Son, to be "gracious to us"; and of the
Holy Ghost, to "give us peace." And because the benediction, though
pronounced by the lips of a fellow man, derived its virtue, not from
the priest but from God, the encouraging assurance was added, "I the
Lord will bless them."
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CHAPTER 7
Nu 7:1-89. The Princes' Offerings.
1. the day that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle--Those who take
the word "day" as literally pointing to the exact date of the
completion of the tabernacle, are under a necessity of considering the
sacred narrative as disjointed, and this portion of the history from
the seventh to the eleventh chapters as out of its place--the
chronology requiring that it should have immediately followed the
fortieth chapter of Exodus, which relates that the tabernacle was
reared on the first day of the first month of the second year [Ex
40:17]. But that the term "day" is used in a loose and indeterminate
sense, as synonymous with time, is evident from the fact that not one
day but several days were occupied with the transactions about to be
described. So that this chapter stands in its proper place in the order
of the history; after the tabernacle and its instruments (the altar and
its vessels) had been anointed (Le 8:10), the Levites separated to the
sacred service--the numbering of the people, and the disposal of the
tribes about the tabernacle, in a certain order, which was observed by
the princes in the presentation of their offerings. This would fix the
period of the imposing ceremonial described in this chapter about a
month after the completion of the tabernacle.
2, 3. the princes of Israel ... brought their offering before the
Lord--The finishing of the sacred edifice would, it may well be
imagined, be hailed as an auspicious occasion, diffusing great joy and
thankfulness throughout the whole population of Israel. But the leading
men, not content with participating in the general expression of
satisfaction, distinguished themselves by a movement, which, while
purely spontaneous, was at the same time so appropriate in the
circumstances and so equal in character, as indicates it to have been
the result of concerted and previous arrangement. It was an offer of
the means of carriage, suitable to the migratory state of the nation in
the wilderness, for transporting the tabernacle from place to place. In
the pattern of that sacred tent exhibited on the mount, and to which
its symbolic and typical character required a faithful adherence, no
provision had been made for its removal in the frequent journeyings of
the Israelites. That not being essential to the plan of the divine
architect, it was left to be accomplished by voluntary liberality; and
whether we look to the judicious character of the gifts, or to the
public manner in which they were presented, we have unmistakable
evidence of the pious and patriotic feelings from which they emanated
and the extensive interest the occasion produced. The offerers were
"the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers," and the
offering consisted of six covered wagons or little cars, and twelve
oxen, two of the princes being partners in a wagon, and each furnishing
an ox.
4, 5. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take it of them, that they may
be to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation--They
exhibited a beautiful example to all who are great in dignity and in
wealth, to be foremost in contributing to the support and in promoting
the interests of religion. The strictness of the injunctions Moses had
received to adhere with scrupulous fidelity to the divine model of the
tabernacle probably led him to doubt whether he was at liberty to act
in this matter without orders. God, however, relieved him by declaring
His acceptance of the freewill offerings, as well as by giving
instructions as to the mode of their distribution among the Levites. It
is probable that in doing so, He merely sanctioned the object for which
they were offered, and that the practical wisdom of the offerers had
previously determined that they should be distributed "unto the
Levites, to every man according to his service"--that is, more or fewer
were assigned to each of the Levitical divisions, as their department
of duty seemed to require. This divine sanction it is of great
importance to notice, as establishing the principle, that while in the
great matters of divine worship and church government we are to adhere
faithfully to the revealed rule of faith and duty, minor arrangements
respecting them may be lawfully made, according to the means and
convenience of God's people in different places. "There is a great deal
left to human regulation--appendages of undoubted convenience, and
which it were as absurd to resist on the ground that an express warrant
cannot be produced for them, as to protest against the convening of the
people to divine service, because there is no Scripture for the
erection and ringing of a church bell" [Chalmers].
6-9. Moses took the wagons and the oxen--The Hebrew word seems to be
fairly rendered by the word "wagons." Wheel carriages of some kind are
certainly intended; and as they were covered, the best idea we can form
of them is, that they bore some resemblance to our covered wagons. That
wheel carriages were anciently used in Egypt, and in what is now
Asiatic Turkey, is attested, not only by history, but by existing
sculptures and paintings. Some of these the Israelites might have
brought with them at their departure; and others, the skilful artisans,
who did the mechanical work of the tabernacle, could easily have
constructed, according to models with which they had been familiar.
Each wagon was drawn by two oxen, and a greater number does not seem to
have been employed on any of the different occasions mentioned in
Scripture. Oxen seem to have been generally used for draught in ancient
times among other nations as well as the Hebrews; and they continue
still to be employed in dragging the few carts which are in use in some
parts of Western Asia [Kitto].
gave them unto the Levites--The principle of distribution was natural
and judicious. The Merarites had twice the number of wagons and oxen
appropriated to them that the Gershonites had, obviously because, while
the latter had charge only of the coverings and hangings (the light but
precious and richly-embroidered drapery, [Nu 4:24-26]) the former were
appointed to transport all the heavy and bulky materials (the boards,
bars, pillars, and sockets) in short, all the larger articles of
furniture [Nu 4:31, 32]. Whoever thinks only of the enormous weight of
metal, the gold, silver, brass, &c., that were on the bases, chapiters,
and pillars, &c., will probably come to the conclusion that four wagons
and eight oxen were not nearly sufficient for the conveyance of so vast
a load. Besides, the Merarites were not very numerous, as they amounted
only to thirty-two hundred men from thirty years and upward [Nu 4:44];
and, therefore, there is reason to suppose that a much greater number
of wagons would afterwards be found necessary, and be furnished, than
were given on this occasion [Calmet]. Others, who consider the full
number of wagons and oxen to be stated in the sacred record, suppose
that the Merarites may have carried many of the smaller things in their
hands--the sockets, for instance, which being each a talent weight, was
one man's burden (2Ki 5:23). The Kohathites had neither wheeled
vehicles nor beasts of burden assigned them, because, being charged
with the transport of the furniture belonging to the holy place, the
sacred worth and character of the vessels entrusted to them (see on Nu
4:15) demanded a more honorable mode of conveyance. These were carried
by those Levites shoulder high. Even in this minute arrangement every
reflecting reader will perceive the evidence of divine wisdom and
holiness; and a deviation from the prescribed rule of duty led, in one
recorded instance, to a manifestation of holy displeasure, calculated
to make a salutary and solemn impression (2Sa 6:6-13).
10, 11. the princes offered for dedicating of the altar, &c.--"Altar"
is here used in the singular for the plural; for it is evident, from
the kind of offerings, that the altars of burnt offering and incense
are both referred to. This was not the first or proper dedication of
those altars, which had been made by Moses and Aaron some time before
[Le 8:11]. But it might be considered an additional "dedication"--those
offerings being the first that were made for particular persons or
tribes.
11. They shall offer ... each prince on his day, &c.--Eastern princes
were accustomed anciently, as they are in Persia still on a certain
yearly festival, to sit upon their thrones in great state, when the
princes and nobles, from all parts of their dominions, appear before
them with tributary presents, which form a large proportion of their
royal revenue. And in the offering of all gifts or presents to great
personages, every article is presented singly and with ostentatious
display. The tabernacle being the palace of their great King, as well
as the sanctuary of their God, the princes of Israel may be viewed, on
the occasion under notice, as presenting their tributary offerings, and
in the same manner of successive detail, which accords with the
immemorial usages of the East. A day was set apart for each, as much
for the imposing solemnity and splendor of the ceremony, as for the
prevention of disorder and hurry; and it is observable that, in the
order of offering, regard was paid to priority not of birth, but of
rank and dignity as they were ranked in the camp--beginning at the
east, proceeding to the south, then to the west, and closing with the
north, according to the course of the sun.
12-17. He that offered his offering the first day was Nahshon ... of
the tribe of Judah, &c.--Judah having had the precedence assigned to
it, the prince or head of that tribe was the first admitted to offer as
its representative; and his offering, as well as that of the others, is
thought, from its costliness, to have been furnished not from his own
private means, but from the general contributions of each tribe. Some
parts of the offering, as the animals for sacrifice, were for the
ritual service of the day, the peace offerings being by much the most
numerous, as the princes and some of the people joined with the priests
afterwards in celebrating the occasion with festive rejoicing. Hence
the feast of dedication became afterwards an anniversary festival.
Other parts of the offering were intended for permanent use, as
utensils necessary in the service of the sanctuary; such as an immense
platter and bowl (Ex 25:29). Being of silver, they were to be employed
at the altar of burnt offering, or in the court, not in the holy place,
all the furniture of which was of solid or plated gold; and there was a
golden spoon, the contents of which show its destination to have been
the altar of incense. The word rendered "spoon" means a hollow cup, in
the shape of a hand, with which the priests on ordinary occasions might
lift a quantity from the incense-box to throw on the altar-fire, or
into the censers; but on the ceremonial on the day of the annual
atonement no instrument was allowed but the high priest's own hands (Le
16:12).
18-83. On the second day Nethaneel ... prince of Issachar, did
offer--This tribe being stationed on the right side of Judah, offered
next through its representative; then Zebulun, which was on the left
side; and so on in orderly succession, every tribe making the same kind
of offering and in the same amount, to show that, as each was under
equal obligation, each rendered an equal tribute. Although each
offering made was the same in quantity as well as quality, a separate
notice is given of each, as a separate day was appointed for the
presentation, that equal honor might be conferred on each, and none
appear to be overlooked or slighted. And as the sacred books were
frequently read in public, posterity, in each successive age, would
feel a livelier interest in the national worship, from the permanent
recognition of the offerings made by the ancestors of the respective
tribes. But while this was done in one respect, as subjects offering
tribute to their king, it was in another respect, a purely religious
act. The vessels offered were for a sacrificial use--the animals
brought were clean and fit for sacrifice, both symbolically denoting,
that while God was to dwell among them as their Sovereign, they were a
holy people, who by this offering dedicated themselves to God.
48. On the seventh day--Surprise has been expressed by some that this
work of presentation was continued on the Sabbath. But assuming that
the seventh day referred to was a Sabbath (which is uncertain), the
work was of a directly religious character, and perfectly in accordance
with the design of the sacred day.
84-88. This was the dedication of the altar--The inspired historian
here sums up the separate items detailed in the preceding narrative,
and the aggregate amount is as follows: 12 silver chargers, each
weighing 130 shekels equals 1560; 12 silver bowls, each 70 shekels
equals 840: total weight. A silver charger at 130 shekels, reduced to
troy weight, made 75 ounces, 9 pennyweights, 168.31 grains; and a
silver bowl at 70 shekels amounts to 40 ounces, 12 pennyweights,
2121.31 grains. The total weight of the 12 chargers is therefore 905
ounces, 16 pennyweights, 33.11 grains; and that of the 12 bowls 487
ounces, 14 pennyweights, 204.31 grains; making the total weight of
silver vessels 1393 ounces, 10 pennyweights, 237.31 grains; which at
5s. per ounce, is equal to £383 1s. 8½d. The 12 golden spoons, allowing
each to be 5 ounces, 16 pennyweights, 3.31 grains, amount to 69 ounces,
3 pennyweights, 135.31 grains, which, at £4 per ounce, is equal to £320
14s. 10½d., and added to the amount of the silver, makes a total of
£703 16s. 6½d. Besides these the offerings comprised twelve bullocks,
twelve rams, twelve lambs, twenty-four goats, sixty rams, sixty
he-goats, sixty lambs--amounting in all to 240. So large a collection
of cattle offered for sacrifice on one occasion proves both the large
flocks of the Israelites and the abundance of pastures which were then,
and still are, found in the valleys that lie between the Sinaitic
Mountains. All travellers attest the luxuriant verdure of those
extensive wadies; and that they were equally or still more rich in
pasture anciently, is confirmed by the numerous flocks of the
Amalekites, as well as of Nabal, which were fed in the wilderness of
Paran (1Sa 15:9).
89. And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to
speak with him--As a king gives private audience to his minister, so
special license was granted to Moses, who, though not a priest, was
admitted into the sanctuary to receive instructions from his heavenly
King as occasion demanded.
then he heard the voice of one speaking to him--Though standing on the
outer side of the veil, he could distinctly hear it, and the mention of
this circumstance is important as the fulfilment, at the dedication of
the tabernacle, of a special promise made by the Lord Christ Himself,
the Angel of the Covenant, commanding its erection (Ex 25:22). It was
the reward of Moses' zeal and obedience; and, in like manner, to all
who love Him and keep His commandments He will manifest Himself (Joh
14:21).
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CHAPTER 8
Nu 8:1-4. How the Lamps Are to Be Lighted.
1. the Lord spake unto Moses--The order of this chapter suggests the
idea that the following instructions were given to Moses while he was
within the tabernacle of the congregation, after the princes had
completed their offering. But from the tenor of the instructions, it is
more likely that they were given immediately after the Levites had been
given to the priests (see on Nu 3:1-4:49), and that the record of these
instructions had been postponed till the narrative of other
transactions in the camp had been made [Patrick].
2. Speak unto Aaron, &c.--The candlestick, which was made of one solid,
massive piece of pure gold, with six lamps supported on as many
branches, a seventh in the center surmounting the shaft itself (Ex
25:31; 37:17), and completed according to the pattern shown in the
mount, was now to be lighted, when the other things in the sanctuary
began to be applied to religious service. It was Aaron's personal duty,
as the servant of God, to light His house, which, being without
windows, required the aid of lights (2Pe 1:19). And the course he was
ordered to follow was first to light the middle lamp from the
altar-fire, and then the other lamps from each other--a course
symbolical of all the light of heavenly truth being derived from
Christ, and diffused by His ministers throughout the world (Re 4:5).
the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick--The
candlestick stood close to the boards of the sanctuary, on the south
side, in full view of the table of showbread on the north (Ex 26:35),
having one set of its lamps turned towards the east, and another
towards the west; so that all parts of the tabernacle were thus lighted
up.
Nu 8:5-22. The Consecration of the Levites.
6, 7. Take the Levites ... and cleanse them--This passage describes the
consecration of the Levites. Although the tribe was to be devoted to
the divine service, their hereditary descent alone was not a sufficient
qualification for entering on the duties of the sacred office. They
were to be set apart by a special ceremony, which, however, was much
simpler than that appointed for the priests; neither washing nor
anointing, nor investiture with official robes, was necessary. Their
purification consisted, along with the offering of the requisite
sacrifices (Le 1:4; 3:2; 4:4), in being sprinkled by water mixed with
the ashes of a red heifer (Nu 19:9), and shaved all over, and their
clothes washed--a combination of symbolical acts which was intended to
remind them of the mortification of carnal and worldly desires, and the
maintenance of that purity in heart and life which became the servants
of God.
9, 10. thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel
together, &c.--As it was plainly impossible that the whole multitude of
the Israelites could do this, a select portion of them must be meant.
This party, who laid their hands upon the Levites, are supposed by some
to have been the first-born, who by that act, transferred their
peculiar privilege of acting as God's ministers to the Levitical tribe;
and by others, to have been the princes, who thus blessed them. It
appears, from this passage, that the imposition of hands was a ceremony
used in consecrating persons to holy offices in the ancient, as, from
the example of our Lord and His apostles, it has been perpetuated in
the Christian Church.
11-13. And Aaron shall offer the Levites--Hebrew, "as a wave offering";
and it has been thought probable that the high priest, in bringing the
Levites one by one to the altar, directed them to make some simple
movements of their persons, analogous to what was done at the
presentation of the wave offerings before the Lord. Thus were they
first devoted as an offering to God, and by Him surrendered to the
priests to be employed in His service. The consecration ceremonial was
repeated in the case of every Levite who was taken (as was done at a
later period) to assist the priests in the tabernacle and temple. (See
on 2Ch 29:34).
14. and the Levites shall be mine--that is, exempt from all military
duty or secular work--free from all pecuniary imposition and wholly
devoted to the custody and service of the sanctuary.
15. after that, shall the Levites go in to do the service of the
tabernacle of the congregation--into the court, to assist the priests;
and at removal into the tabernacle--that is, into the door of it--to
receive the covered furniture.
19. to make an atonement for the children of Israel, &c.--to aid the
priests in that expiatory work; or, as the words may be rendered, "to
make redemption for" the Levites being exchanged or substituted for the
first-born for this important end, that there might be a sanctified
body of men appointed to guard the sanctuary, and the people not
allowed to approach or presumptuously meddle with holy things, which
would expose them to the angry judgments of Heaven.
24. from twenty and five years old, &c.--(Compare Nu 4:3). They entered
on their work in their twenty-fifth year, as pupils and probationers,
under the superintendence and direction of their senior brethren; and
at thirty they were admitted to the full discharge of their official
functions.
25. from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the
service thereof, &c.--that is, on the laborious and exhausting parts of
their work.
26. But shall minister with their brethren--in the performance of
easier and higher duties, instructing and directing the young, or
superintending important trusts. "They also serve who only wait"
[Milton].
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CHAPTER 9
Nu 9:1-5. The Passover Enjoined.
2-5. Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed
season, &c.--The date of this command to keep the passover in the
wilderness was given shortly after the erection and consecration of the
tabernacle and preceded the numbering of the people by a month.
(Compare Nu 9:1 with Nu 1:1, 2). But it is narrated after that
transaction in order to introduce the notice of a particular case, for
which a law was provided to meet the occasion. This was the first
observance of the passover since the exodus; and without a positive
injunction, the Israelites were under no obligation to keep it till
their settlement in the land of Canaan (Ex 12:25). The anniversary was
kept on the exact day of the year on which they, twelve months before,
had departed from Egypt; and it was marked by all the peculiar
rites--the he lamb and the unleavened bread. The materials would be
easily procured--the lambs from their numerous flocks and the meal for
the unleavened bread, by the aid of Jethro, from the land of Midian,
which was adjoining their camp (Ex 3:1). But their girded loins, their
sandaled feet, and their staff in their hand, being mere circumstances
attending a hurried departure and not essential to the rite, were not
repeated. It is supposed to have been the only observance of the feast
during their forty years' wandering; and Jewish writers say that, as
none could eat the passover except they were circumcised (Ex 12:43, 44,
48), and circumcision was not practised in the wilderness [Jos 5:4-7],
there could be no renewal of the paschal solemnity.
Nu 9:6-14. A Second Passover Allowed.
6, 7. there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a
man--To discharge the last offices to the remains of deceased relatives
was imperative; and yet attendance on a funeral entailed ceremonial
defilement, which led to exclusion from all society and from the camp
for seven days. Some persons who were in this situation at the arrival
of the first paschal anniversary, being painfully perplexed about the
course of duty because they were temporarily disqualified at the proper
season, and having no opportunity of supplying their want were liable
to a total privation of all their privileges, laid their case before
Moses. Jewish writers assert that these men were the persons who had
carried out the dead bodies of Nadab and Abihu [Le 10:4, 5].
8-14. Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord
will command concerning you--A solution of the difficulty was soon
obtained, it being enacted, by divine authority, that to those who
might be disqualified by the occurrence of a death in their family
circle or unable by distance to keep the passover on the anniversary
day, a special license was granted of observing it by themselves on the
same day and hour of the following month, under a due attendance to all
the solemn formalities. (See on 2Ch 30:2). But the observance was
imperative on all who did not labor under these impediments.
14. if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the
passover--Gentile converts, or proselytes, as they were afterwards
called, were admitted, if circumcised, to the same privileges as native
Israelites, and were liable to excommunication if they neglected the
passover. But circumcision was an indispensable condition; and whoever
did not submit to that rite, was prohibited, under the sternest
penalties, from eating the passover.
Nu 9:15-23. A Cloud Guides the Israelites.
15. the cloud covered the tabernacle--The inspired historian here
enters on an entirely new subject, which might properly have formed a
separate chapter, beginning at this verse and ending at Nu 10:29
[Calmet]. The cloud was a visible token of God's special presence and
guardian care of the Israelites (Ex 14:20; Ps 105:39). It was easily
distinguishable from all other clouds by its peculiar form and its
fixed position; for from the day of the completion of the tabernacle it
rested by day as a dark, by night as a fiery, column on that part of
the sanctuary which contained the ark of the testimony (Le 16:2).
17. when the cloud was taken up--that is, rose to a higher elevation,
so as to be conspicuous at the remotest extremities of the camp. That
was a signal for removal; and, accordingly, it is properly called (Nu
9:18) "the commandment of the Lord." It was a visible token of the
presence of God; and from it, as a glorious throne, He gave the order.
So that its motion regulated the commencement and termination of all
the journeys of the Israelites. (See on Ex 14:19).
19. when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle, ... then Israel
kept the charge of the Lord, and journeyed not--A desert life has its
attractions, and constant movements create a passionate love of change.
Many incidents show that the Israelites had strongly imbibed this nomad
habit and were desirous of hastening to Canaan. But still the phases of
the cloud indicated the command of God: and whatsoever irksomeness they
might have felt in remaining long stationary in camp, "when the cloud
tarried upon the tabernacle many days, they kept the charge of the
Lord, and journeyed not." Happy for them had they always exhibited this
spirit of obedience! and happy for all if, through the wilderness of
this world, we implicitly follow the leadings of God's Providence and
the directions of God's Word!
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CHAPTER 10
Nu 10:1-36. The Use of the Silver Trumpets.
2. Make thee two trumpets of silver--These trumpets were of a long
form, in opposition to that of the Egyptian trumpets, with which the
people were convened to the worship of Osiris and which were curved
like rams' horns. Those which Moses made, as described by Josephus and
represented on the arch of Titus, were straight, a cubit or more in
length, the tubes of the thickness of a flute. Both extremities bore a
close resemblance to those in use among us. They were of solid
silver--so as, from the purity of the metal, to give a shrill, distinct
sound; and there were two of them, probably because there were only two
sons of Aaron; but at a later period the number was greatly increased
(Jos 6:8; 2Ch 5:12). And although the camp comprehended 2,500,000 of
people, two trumpets would be quite sufficient, for sound is conveyed
easily through the pure atmosphere and reverberated strongly among the
valleys of the Sinaitic hills.
3-7. when they shall blow with them--There seem to have been signals
made by a difference in the loudness and variety in the notes, suited
for different occasions, and which the Israelites learned to
distinguish. A simple uniform sound by both trumpets summoned a general
assembly of the people; the blast of a single trumpet convoked the
princes to consult on public affairs; notes of some other kind were
made to sound an alarm, whether for journeying or for war. One alarm
was the recognized signal for the eastern division of the camp (the
tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun) to march; two alarms gave the
signal for the southern to move; and, though it is not in our present
Hebrew text, the Septuagint has, that on three alarms being sounded,
those on the west; while on four blasts, those on the north decamped.
Thus the greatest order and discipline were established in the
Israelitish camp--no military march could be better regulated.
8. the sons of Aaron the priests shall blow with the trumpets,
&c.--Neither the Levites nor any in the common ranks of the people
could be employed in this office of signal giving. In order to attract
greater attention and more faithful observance, it was reserved to the
priests alone, as the Lord's ministers; and as anciently in Persia and
other Eastern countries the alarm trumpets were sounded from the tent
of the sovereign, so were they blown from the tabernacle, the visible
residence of Israel's King.
9. If ye go to war--In the land of Canaan, either when attacked by
foreign invaders or when they went to take possession according to the
divine promise, "ye [that is, the priests] shall blow an alarm." This
advice was accordingly acted upon (Nu 31:6; 2Ch 13:12); and in the
circumstances it was an act of devout confidence in God. A solemn and
religious act on the eve of a battle has often animated the hearts of
those who felt they were engaged in a good and just cause; and so the
blowing of the trumpet, being an ordinance of God, produced that effect
on the minds of the Israelites. But more is meant by the words--namely,
that God would, as it were, be aroused by the trumpet to bless with His
presence and aid.
10. Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days--Festive
and thanksgiving occasions were to be ushered in with the trumpets, as
all feasts afterwards were (Ps 81:3; 2Ch 29:27) to intimate the joyous
and delighted feelings with which they engaged in the service of God.
11. It came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the
second year, &c.--The Israelites had lain encamped in Wady-Er-Rahah and
the neighboring valleys of the Sinaitic range for the space of eleven
months and twenty-nine days. (Compare Ex 19:1). Besides the religious
purposes of the highest importance to which their long sojourn at Sinai
was subservient, the Israelites, after the hardships and oppression of
the Egyptian servitude, required an interval of repose and refreshment.
They were neither physically nor morally in a condition to enter the
lists with the warlike people they had to encounter before obtaining
possession of Canaan. But the wondrous transactions at Sinai--the arm
of Jehovah so visibly displayed in their favor--the covenant entered
into, and the special blessings guaranteed, beginning a course of moral
and religious education which moulded the character of this
people--made them acquainted with their high destiny and inspired them
with those noble principles of divine truth and righteousness which
alone make a great nation.
12. wilderness of Paran--It stretched from the base of the Sinaitic
group, or from Et-Tyh, over that extensive plateau to the southwestern
borders of Palestine.
13-27. the children of Israel took their journey ... by the hand of
Moses--It is probable that Moses, on the breaking up of the encampment,
stationed himself on some eminence to see the ranks defile in order
through the embouchure of the mountains. The marching order is
described (Nu 2:1-34); but, as the vast horde is represented here in
actual migration, let us notice the extraordinary care that was taken
for ensuring the safe conveyance of the holy things. In the rear of
Judah, which, with the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun, led the van,
followed the Gershonites and Merarites with the heavy and coarser
materials of the tabernacle. Next in order were set in motion the flank
divisions of Reuben and Ephraim. Then came the Kohathites, who occupied
the center of the moving mass, bearing the sacred utensils on their
shoulder. They were so far behind the other portions of the Levitical
body that these would have time at the new encampment to rear the
framework of the tabernacle before the Kohathites arrived. Last of all,
Dan, with the associated tribes, brought up the rear of the immense
caravan. Each tribe was marshalled under its prince or chief and in all
their movements rallied around its own standard.
29. Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite--called also Reuel (the same
as Jethro [Ex 2:18, Margin]). Hobab, the son of this Midianite chief
and brother-in-law to Moses, seems to have sojourned among the
Israelites during the whole period of their encampment at Sinai and now
on their removal proposed returning to his own abode. Moses urged him
to remain, both for his own benefit from a religious point of view, and
for the useful services his nomad habits could enable him to render.
31. Leave us not, I pray thee ... and thou mayest be to us instead of
eyes--The earnest importunity of Moses to secure the attendance of this
man, when he enjoyed the benefit of the directing cloud, has surprised
many. But it should be recollected that the guidance of the cloud,
though it showed the general route to be taken through the trackless
desert, would not be so special and minute as to point out the places
where pasture, shade, and water were to be obtained and which were
often hid in obscure spots by the shifting sands. Besides, several
detachments were sent off from the main body; the services of Hobab,
not as a single Arab, but as a prince of a powerful clan, would have
been exceedingly useful.
32. if thou go with us ... what goodness the Lord will show unto us,
the same will we do unto thee--A strong inducement is here held out;
but it seems not to have changed the young man's purpose, for he
departed and settled in his own district. (See on Jud 1:16 and 1Sa
15:6).
33. they departed ... three days' journey--the first day's progress
being very small, about eighteen or twenty miles.
ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them--It was carried in the
center, and hence some eminent commentators think the passage should be
rendered, "the ark went in their presence," the cloud above upon it
being conspicuous in their eyes. But it is probable that the cloudy
pillar, which, while stationary, rested upon the ark, preceded them in
the march--as, when in motion at one time (Ex 14:19) it is expressly
said to have shifted its place.
35, 36. when the ark set forward that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and
let thine enemies be scattered--Moses, as the organ of the people,
uttered an appropriate prayer both at the commencement and the end of
each journey. Thus all the journeys were sanctified by devotion; and so
should our prayer be, "If thy presence go not with us, carry us not
hence" [Ex 33:15].
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 11
Nu 11:1-35. Manna Loathed.
1. When the people complained it displeased the Lord, &c.--Unaccustomed
to the fatigues of travel and wandering into the depths of a desert,
less mountainous but far more gloomy and desolate than that of Sinai,
without any near prospect of the rich country that had been promised,
they fell into a state of vehement discontent, which was vented at
these irksome and fruitless journeyings. The displeasure of God was
manifested against the ungrateful complainers by fire sent in an
extraordinary manner. It is worthy of notice, however, that the
discontent seems to have been confined to the extremities of the camp,
where, in all likelihood, "the mixed multitude" [see on Ex 12:38] had
their station. At the intercession of Moses, the appalling judgment
ceased [Nu 11:2], and the name given to the place, "Taberah" (a
burning), remained ever after a monument of national sin and
punishment. (See on Nu 11:34).
4. the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting--These
consisted of Egyptians. [See on Ex 12:38.] To dream of banquets and
plenty of animal food in the desert becomes a disease of the
imagination; and to this excitement of the appetite no people are more
liable than the natives of Egypt. But the Israelites participated in
the same feelings and expressed dissatisfaction with the manna on which
they had hitherto been supported, in comparison with the vegetable
luxuries with which they had been regaled in Egypt.
5. We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely--(See on Ex
7:17). The people of Egypt are accustomed to an almost exclusive diet
of fish, either fresh or sun-dried, during the hot season in April and
May--the very season when the Israelites were travelling in this
desert. Lower Egypt, where were the brick-kilns in which they were
employed, afforded great facilities for obtaining fish in the
Mediterranean, the lakes, and the canals of the Nile.
cucumbers--The Egyptian species is smooth, of a cylindrical form, and
about a foot in length. It is highly esteemed by the natives and when
in season is liberally partaken of, being greatly mellowed by the
influence of the sun.
melons--The watermelons are meant, which grow on the deep, loamy soil
after the subsidence of the Nile; and as they afford a juicy and
cooling fruit, all classes make use of them for food, drink, and
medicine.
leeks--by some said to be a species of grass cresses, which is much
relished as a kind of seasoning.
onions--the same as ours; but instead of being nauseous and affecting
the eyes, they are sweet to the taste, good for the stomach, and form
to a large extent the aliment of the laboring classes.
garlic--is now nearly if not altogether extinct in Egypt although it
seems to have grown anciently in great abundance. The herbs now
mentioned form a diet very grateful in warm countries where vegetables
and other fruits of the season are much used. We can scarcely wonder
that both the Egyptian hangers-on and the general body of the
Israelites, incited by their clamors, complained bitterly of the want
of the refreshing viands in their toilsome wanderings. But after all
their experience of the bounty and care of God, their vehement longing
for the luxuries of Egypt was an impeachment of the divine
arrangements; and if it was the sin that beset them in the desert, it
became them more strenuously to repress a rebellious spirit, as
dishonoring to God and unbecoming their relation to Him as a chosen
people.
6-9. But now ... there is nothing ... beside this manna--Daily
familiarity had disgusted them with the sight and taste of the
monotonous food; and, ungrateful for the heavenly gift, they longed for
a change of fare. It may be noticed that the resemblance of the manna
to coriander seed was not in the color, but in the size and figure; and
from its comparison to bdellium, which is either a drop of white gum or
a white pearl, we are enabled to form a better idea of it. Moreover, it
is evident, from the process of baking into cakes, that it could not
have been the natural manna of the Arabian desert, for that is too
gummy or unctuous to admit of being ground into meal. In taste it is
said to have been like "wafers made with honey" (Ex 16:31), and here to
have the taste of fresh oil. The discrepancy in these statements is
only apparent; for in the latter the manna is described in its raw
state; in the former, after it was ground and baked. The minute
description given here of its nature and use was designed to show the
great sinfulness of the people, in being dissatisfied with such
excellent food, furnished so plentifully and gratuitously.
10-15. Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy
servant, &c.--It is impossible not to sympathize with his feelings
although the tone and language of his remonstrances to God cannot be
justified. He was in a most distressing situation--having a mighty
multitude under his care, with no means of satisfying their clamorous
demands. Their conduct shows how deeply they had been debased and
demoralized by long oppression: while his reveals a state of mind
agonized and almost overwhelmed by a sense of the undivided
responsibilities of his office.
16, 17. the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the
elders--(Ex 3:16; 5:6; 24:9; 18:21, 24; Le 4:15). An order of seventy
was to be created, either by a selection from the existing staff of
elders or by the appointment of new ones, empowered to assist him by
their collective wisdom and experience in the onerous cares of
government. The Jewish writers say that this was the origin of the
Sanhedrin, or supreme appellate court of their nation. But there is
every reason to believe that it was only a temporary expedient, adopted
to meet a trying exigency.
17. I will come down--that is, not in a visible manner or by local
descent, but by the tokens of the divine presence and operations.
and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee--"The spirit" means
the gifts and influences of the Spirit (Nu 27:18; Joe 2:28; Joh 7:39;
1Co 14:12), and by "taking the spirit of Moses, and putting it upon
them," is not to be understood that the qualities of the great leader
were to be in any degree impaired but that the elders would be endowed
with a portion of the same gifts, especially of prophecy (Nu
11:25)--that is, an extraordinary penetration in discovering hidden and
settling difficult things.
18-20. say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow,
and ye shall eat flesh--that is, "prepare yourselves," by repentance
and submission, to receive to-morrow the flesh you clamor for. But it
is evident that the tenor of the language implied a severe rebuke and
that the blessing promised would prove a curse.
21-23. Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred
thousand ... Shall the flocks and herds be slain for them, to suffice
them?--The great leader, struck with a promise so astonishing as that
of suddenly furnishing, in the midst of the desert, more than two
millions of people with flesh for a whole month, betrayed an
incredulous spirit, surprising in one who had witnessed so many
stupendous miracles. But it is probable that it was only a feeling of
the moment--at all events, the incredulous doubt was uttered only to
himself--and not, as afterwards, publicly and to the scandal of the
people. (See on Nu 20:10). It was, therefore, sharply reproved, but not
punished.
24. Moses ... gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people,
&c.--The tabernacle was chosen for the convocation, because, as it was
there God manifested Himself, there His Spirit would be directly
imparted--there the minds of the elders themselves would be inspired
with reverential awe and their office invested with greater respect in
the eyes of the people.
25. when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not
cease--As those elders were constituted civil governors, their
"prophesying" must be understood as meaning the performance of their
civil and sacred duties by the help of those extraordinary endowments
they had received; and by their not "ceasing" we understand, either
that they continued to exercise their gifts uninterruptedly the first
day (see 1Sa 19:24), or that these were permanent gifts, which
qualified them in an eminent degree for discharging the duty of public
magistrates.
26-29. But there remained two of the men in the camp--They did not
repair with the rest to the tabernacle, either from modesty in
shrinking from the assumption of a public office, or being prevented by
some ceremonial defilement. They, however, received the gifts of the
Spirit as well as their brethren. And when Moses was urged to forbid
their prophesying, his answer displayed a noble disinterestedness as
well as zeal for the glory of God akin to that of our Lord (Mr 9:39).
31-35. There went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from
the sea, &c.--These migratory birds (see on Ex 16:13) were on their
journey from Egypt, when "the wind from the Lord," an east wind (Ps
78:26) forcing them to change their course, wafted them over the Red
Sea to the camp of Israel.
let them fall a day's journey--If the journey of an individual is
meant, this space might be thirty miles; if the inspired historian
referred to the whole host, ten miles would be as far as they could
march in one day in the sandy desert under a vertical sun. Assuming it
to be twenty miles this immense cloud of quails (Ps 78:27) covered a
space of forty miles in diameter. Others reduce it to sixteen. But it
is doubtful whether the measurement be from the center or the
extremities of the camp. It is evident, however, that the language
describes the countless number of these quails.
as it were two cubits high--Some have supposed that they fell on the
ground above each other to that height--a supposition which would leave
a vast quantity useless as food to the Israelites, who were forbidden
to eat any animal that died of itself or from which the blood was not
poured out. Others think that, being exhausted with a long flight, they
could not fly more than three feet above the earth, and so were easily
felled or caught. A more recent explanation applies the phrase, "two
cubits high," not to the accumulation of the mass, but to the size of
the individual birds. Flocks of large red-legged cranes, three feet
high, measuring seven feet from tip to tip, have been frequently seen
on the western shores of the Gulf of Akaba, or eastern arm of the Red
Sea [Stanley; Shubert].
32. people stood up--rose up in eager haste--some at one time, others
at another; some, perhaps through avidity, both day and night.
ten homers--ten asses' loads; or, "homers" may be used indefinitely (as
in Ex 8:14; Jud 15:16); and "ten" for many: so that the phrase "ten
homers" is equivalent to "great heaps." The collectors were probably
one or two from each family; and, being distrustful of God's goodness,
they gathered not for immediate consumption only, but for future use.
In eastern and southern seas, innumerable quails are often seen, which,
when weary, fall down, covering every spot on the deck and rigging of
vessels; and in Egypt they come in such myriads that the people knock
them down with sticks.
spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp--salted and
dried them for future use, by the simple process to which they had been
accustomed in Egypt.
33. while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was
chewed--literally, "cut off"; that is, before the supply of quails,
which lasted a month (Nu 11:20), was exhausted. The probability is,
that their stomachs, having been long inured to manna (a light food),
were not prepared for so sudden a change of regimen--a heavy, solid
diet of animal food, of which they seem to have partaken to so
intemperate a degree as to produce a general surfeit, and fatal
consequences. On a former occasion their murmurings for flesh were
raised (Ex 16:1-8) because they were in want of food. Here they
proceeded, not from necessity, but wanton, lustful desire; and their
sin, in the righteous judgment of God, was made to carry its own
punishment.
34. called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah--literally, "The
graves of lust," or "Those that lusted"; so that the name of the place
proves that the mortality was confined to those who had indulged
inordinately.
35. Hazeroth--The extreme southern station of this route was a
watering-place in a spacious plain, now Ain-Haderah.
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CHAPTER 12
Nu 12:1-9. Miriam's and Aaron's Sedition.
1. an Ethiopian woman--Hebrew, "a Cushite woman"--Arabia was usually
called in Scripture the land of Cush, its inhabitants being descendants
of that son of Ham (see on Ex 2:15) and being accounted generally a
vile and contemptible race (see on Am 9:7). The occasion of this
seditious outbreak on the part of Miriam and Aaron against Moses was
the great change made in the government by the adoption of the seventy
rulers [Nu 11:16]. Their irritating disparagement of his wife (who, in
all probability, was Zipporah [Ex 2:21], and not a second wife he had
recently married) arose from jealousy of the relatives, through whose
influence the innovation had been first made (Ex 18:13-26), while they
were overlooked or neglected. Miriam is mentioned before Aaron as being
the chief instigator and leader of the sedition.
2. Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not also spoken
by us?--The prophetical name and character was bestowed upon Aaron (Ex
4:15, 16) and Miriam (Ex 15:20); and, therefore, they considered the
conduct of Moses, in exercising an exclusive authority in this matter,
as an encroachment on their rights (Mic 6:4).
3. the man Moses was very meek--(Ex 14:13; 32:12, 13; Nu 14:13; 21:7;
De 9:18). This observation might have been made to account for Moses
taking no notice of their angry reproaches and for God's interposing so
speedily for the vindication of His servant's cause. The circumstance
of Moses recording an eulogium on a distinguishing excellence of his
own character is not without a parallel among the sacred writers, when
forced to it by the insolence and contempt of opponents (2Co 11:5;
12:11, 12). But it is not improbable that, as this verse appears to be
a parenthesis, it may have been inserted as a gloss by Ezra or some
later prophet. Others, instead of "very meek," suggest "very
afflicted," as the proper rendering.
4. the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto
Miriam--The divine interposition was made thus openly and immediately,
in order to suppress the sedition and prevent its spreading among the
people.
5. the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood the door of
the tabernacle--without gaining admission, as was the usual privilege
of Aaron, though it was denied to all other men and women. This public
exclusion was designed to be a token of the divine displeasure.
6, 7. Hear now my words--A difference of degree is here distinctly
expressed in the gifts and authority even of divinely commissioned
prophets. Moses, having been set over all God's house, (that is, His
church and people), was consequently invested with supremacy over
Miriam and Aaron also and privileged beyond all others by direct and
clear manifestations of the presence and will of God.
8. with him will I speak mouth to mouth--immediately, not by an
interpreter, nor by visionary symbols presented to his fancy.
apparently--plainly and surely.
not in dark speeches--parables or similitudes.
the similitude of the Lord shall he behold--not the face or essence of
God, who is invisible (Ex 33:20; Col 1:15; Joh 1:18); but some
unmistakable evidence of His glorious presence (Ex 33:2; 34:5). The
latter clause should have been conjoined with the preceding one, thus:
"not in dark speeches, and in a figure shall he behold the Lord." The
slight change in the punctuation removes all appearance of
contradiction to De 4:15.
Nu 12:10-16. Miriam's Leprosy.
10. the cloud departed from the tabernacle--that is, from the door to
resume its permanent position over the mercy seat.
Miriam became leprous--This malady in its most malignant form (Ex 4:6;
2Ki 5:27) as its color, combined with its sudden appearance, proved,
was inflicted as a divine judgment; and she was made the victim, either
because of her extreme violence or because the leprosy on Aaron would
have interrupted or dishonored the holy service.
11-13. On the humble and penitential submission of Aaron, Moses
interceded for both the offenders, especially for Miriam, who was
restored; not, however, till she had been made, by her exclusion, a
public example [Nu 12:14, 15].
14. her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed
seven days?--The Jews, in common with all people in the East, seem to
have had an intense abhorrence of spitting, and for a parent to express
his displeasure by doing so on the person of one of his children, or
even on the ground in his presence, separated that child as unclean
from society for seven days.
15. the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again--Either
not to crush her by a sentence of overwhelming severity or not to
expose her, being a prophetess, to popular contempt.
16. pitched in the wilderness of Paran--The station of encampments
seems to have been Rithma (Nu 33:19).
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CHAPTER 13
Nu 13:1-33. The Names of the Men Who Were Sent to Search the Land.
1, 2. The Lord spake unto Moses, Send thou men, that they may search
the land, of Canaan--Compare De 1:22, whence it appears, that while the
proposal of delegating confidential men from each tribe to explore the
land of Canaan emanated from the people who petitioned for it, the
measure received the special sanction of God, who granted their request
at once as a trial, and a punishment of their distrust.
3. those men were heads of the children of Israel--Not the princes who
are named (Nu 10:14-16, 18-20, 22-27), but chiefs, leading men though
not of the first rank.
16. Oshea--that is, "a desire of salvation." Jehoshua, by prefixing the
name of God, means "divinely appointed," "head of salvation,"
"Saviour," the same as Jesus [Mt 1:21, Margin].
17. Get you up this way ... , and go up into the mountain--Mount Seir
(De 1:2), which lay directly from Sinai across the wilderness of Paran,
in a northeasterly direction into the southern parts of the promised
land.
20. Now the time was the time of the first grapes--This was in August,
when the first clusters are gathered. The second are gathered in
September, and the third in October. The spies' absence for a period of
forty days determines the grapes they brought from Eshcol to have been
of the second period.
21-24. So they ... searched the land--They advanced from south to
north, reconnoitering the whole land.
the wilderness of Zin--a long level plain, or deep valley of sand, the
monotony of which is relieved by a few tamarisk and rethem trees. Under
the names of El Ghor and El Araba, it forms the continuation of the
Jordan valley, extending from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akaba.
Rehob--or, Beth-rehob, was a city and district situated, according to
some, eastward of Sidon; and, according to others, it is the same as El
Hule, an extensive and fertile champaign country, at the foot of
Anti-libanus, a few leagues below Paneas.
as men come to Hamath--or, "the entering in of Hamath" (2Ki 14:25), now
the valley of Balbeck, a mountain pass or opening in the northern
frontier, which formed the extreme limit in that direction of the
inheritance of Israel. From the mention of these places, the route of
the scouts appears to have been along the course of the Jordan in their
advance; and their return was by the western border through the
territories of the Sidonians and Philistines.
22. unto Hebron--situated in the heart of the mountains of Judah, in
the southern extremity of Palestine. The town or "cities of Hebron," as
it is expressed in the Hebrew, consists of a number of sheikdoms
distinct from each other, standing at the foot of one of those hills
that form a bowl round and enclose it. "The children of Anak" mentioned
in this verse seem to have been also chiefs of townships; and this
coincidence of polity, existing in ages so distant from each other, is
remarkable [Vere Monro]. Hebron (Kirjath Arba, Ge 23:2) was one of the
oldest cities in the world.
Zoan--(the Tanis of the Greeks) was situated on one of the eastern
branches of the Nile, near the lake Menzala, and was the early royal
residence of the Pharaohs. It boasted a higher antiquity than any other
city in Egypt. Its name, which signifies flat and level, is descriptive
of its situation in the low grounds of the Delta.
23. they came unto the brook of Eshcol--that is, "the torrent of the
cluster." Its location was a little to the southwest of Hebron. The
valley and its sloping hills are still covered with vineyards, the
character of whose fruit corresponds to its ancient celebrity.
and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes--The
grapes reared in this locality are still as magnificent as
formerly--they are said by one to be equal in size to prunes, and
compared by another to a man's thumb. One cluster sometimes weighs ten
or twelve pounds. The mode of carrying the cluster cut down by the
spies, though not necessary from its weight, was evidently adopted to
preserve it entire as a specimen of the productions of the promised
land; and the impression made by the sight of it would be all the
greater because the Israelites were familiar only with the scanty vines
and small grapes of Egypt.
26. they came ... to Kadesh--an important encampment of the Israelites.
But its exact situation is not definitely known, nor is it determined
whether it is the same or a different place from Kadesh-barnea. It is
supposed to be identical with Ain-el-Weibeh, a famous spring on the
eastern side of the desert [Robinson], or also with Petra [Stanley].
27, 28. they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou
sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey--The report was
given publicly in the audience of the people, and it was artfully
arranged to begin their narrative with commendations of the natural
fertility of the country in order that their subsequent slanders might
the more readily receive credit.
29. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south--Their territory lay
between the Dead and the Red Seas, skirting the borders of Canaan.
Hittites ... dwell in the mountains--Their settlements were in the
southern and mountainous part of Palestine (Ge 23:7).
the Canaanites dwell by the sea--The remnant of the original
inhabitants, who had been dispossessed by the Philistines, were divided
into two nomadic hordes--one settled eastward near the Jordan; the
other westward, by the Mediterranean.
32. a land that eateth up the inhabitants--that is, an unhealthy
climate and country. Jewish writers say that in the course of their
travels they saw a great many funerals, vast numbers of the Canaanites
being cut off at that time, in the providence of God, by a plague or
the hornet (Jos 24:12).
men of a great stature--This was evidently a false and exaggerated
report, representing, from timidity or malicious artifice, what was
true of a few as descriptive of the people generally.
33. there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak--The name is derived from
the son of Arba, a great man among the Arabians (Jos 15:14), who
probably obtained his appellation from wearing a splendid collar or
chain round his neck, as the word imports. The epithet "giant"
evidently refers here to stature. (See on Ge 6:4). And it is probable
the Anakims were a distinguished family, or perhaps a select body of
warriors, chosen for their extraordinary size.
we were in our own sight as grasshoppers--a strong Orientalism, by
which the treacherous spies gave an exaggerated report of the physical
strength of the people of Canaan.
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CHAPTER 14
Nu 14:1-45. The People Murmur at the Spies' Report.
1. all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried--Not literally
all, for there were some exceptions.
2-4. Would God that we had died in Egypt--Such insolence to their
generous leaders, and such base ingratitude to God, show the deep
degradation of the Israelites, and the absolute necessity of the decree
that debarred that generation from entering the promised land [Nu
14:29-35]. They were punished by their wishes being granted to die in
that wilderness [Heb 3:17; Jude 5]. A leader to reconduct them to Egypt
is spoken of (Ne 9:17) as actually nominated. The sinfulness and insane
folly of their conduct are almost incredible. Their conduct, however,
is paralleled by too many among us, who shrink from the smallest
difficulties and rather remain slaves to sin than resolutely try to
surmount the obstacles that lie in their way to the Canaan above.
5. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces--as humble and earnest
suppliants--either to the people, entreating them to desist from so
perverse a design; or rather, to God, as the usual and only refuge from
the violence of that tumultuous and stiff-necked rabble--a hopeful
means of softening and impressing their hearts.
6. Joshua ... and Caleb, which were of them that searched the land,
rent their clothes--The two honest spies testified their grief and
horror, in the strongest manner, at the mutiny against Moses and the
blasphemy against God; while at the same time they endeavored, by a
truthful statement, to persuade the people of the ease with which they
might obtain possession of so desirable a country, provided they did
not, by their rebellion and ingratitude, provoke God to abandon them.
8. a land flowing with milk and honey--a general expression,
descriptive of a rich and fertile country. The two articles specified
were among the principal products of the Holy Land.
9. their defence is departed--Hebrew, "their shadow." The Sultan of
Turkey and the Shah of Persia are called "the shadow of God," "the
refuge of the world." So that the meaning of the clause, "their defence
is departed from them," is, that the favor of God was now lost to those
whose iniquities were full (Ge 15:16), and transferred to the
Israelites.
10. the glory of the Lord appeared--It was seasonably manifested on
this great emergency to rescue His ambassadors from their perilous
situation.
12. the Lord said, ... I will smite them with the pestilence--not a
final decree, but a threatening, suspended, as appeared from the issue,
on the intercession of Moses and the repentance of Israel.
17. let the power of my Lord be great--be magnified.
21. all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord--This
promise, in its full acceptation, remains to be verified by the
eventual and universal prevalence of Christianity in the world. But the
terms were used restrictively in respect to the occasion, to the report
which would spread over all the land of the "terrible things in
righteousness" [Ps 65:5] which God would do in the infliction of the
doom described, to which that rebellious race was now consigned.
22. ten times--very frequently.
24. my servant Caleb--Joshua was also excepted, but he is not named
because he was no longer in the ranks of the people, being a constant
attendant on Moses.
because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me
fully--Under the influence of God's Spirit, Caleb was a man of bold,
generous, heroic courage, above worldly anxieties and fears.
25. (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley)--that
is, on the other side of the Idumean mountain, at whose base they were
then encamped. Those nomad tribes had at that time occupied it with a
determination to oppose the further progress of the Hebrew people.
Hence God gave the command that they seek a safe and timely retreat
into the desert, to escape the pursuit of those resolute enemies, to
whom, with their wives and children, they would fall a helpless prey
because they had forfeited the presence and protection of God. This
verse forms an important part of the narrative and should be freed from
the parenthetical form which our English translators have given it.
30. save Caleb ... and Joshua--These are specially mentioned, as
honorable exceptions to the rest of the scouts, and also as the future
leaders of the people. But it appears that some of the old generation
did not join in the mutinous murmuring, including in that number the
whole order of the priests (Jos 14:1).
34. ye shall know my breach of promise--that is, in consequence of your
violation of the covenant betwixt you and Me, by breaking the terms of
it, it shall be null and void on My part, as I shall withhold the
blessings I promised in that covenant to confer on you on condition of
your obedience.
36-38. those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died
by the plague before the Lord--Ten of the spies struck dead on the
spot--either by the pestilence or some other judgment. This great and
appalling mortality clearly betokened the hand of the Lord.
40-45. they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top
of the mountain--Notwithstanding the tidings that Moses communicated
and which diffused a general feeling of melancholy and grief throughout
the camp, the impression was of very brief continuance. They rushed
from one extreme of rashness and perversity to another, and the
obstinacy of their rebellious spirit was evinced by their active
preparations to ascend the hill, notwithstanding the divine warning
they had received not to undertake that enterprise.
for we have sinned--that is, realizing our sin, we now repent of it,
and are eager to do as Caleb and Joshua exhorted us--or, as some render
it, though we have sinned, we trust God will yet give us the land of
promise. The entreaties of their prudent and pious leader, who
represented to them that their enemies, scaling the other side of the
valley, would post themselves on the top of the hill before them, were
disregarded. How strangely perverse the conduct of the Israelites, who,
shortly before, were afraid that, though their Almighty King was with
them, they could not get possession of the land; and yet now they act
still more foolishly in supposing that, though God were not with them,
they could expel the inhabitants by their unaided efforts. The
consequences were such as might have been anticipated. The Amalekites
and Canaanites, who had been lying in ambuscade expecting their
movement, rushed down upon them from the heights and became the
instruments of punishing their guilty rebellion.
45. even unto Hormah--The name was afterwards given to that place in
memory of the immense slaughter of the Israelites on this occasion.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 15
Nu 15:1-41. The Law of Sundry Offerings.
1, 2. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of
Israel--Some infer from Nu 15:23 that the date of this communication
must be fixed towards the close of the wanderings in the wilderness;
and, also, that all the sacrifices prescribed in the law were to be
offered only after the settlement in Canaan.
3. make an offering by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering--It is
evident that a peace offering is referred to because this term is
frequently used in such a sense (Ex 18:12; Le 17:5).
4. tenth deal--that is, an omer, the tenth part of an ephah (Ex 16:36).
fourth part of an hin of oil--This element shows it to have been
different from such meat offerings as were made by themselves, and not
merely accompaniments of other sacrifices.
6-12. two tenth deals--The quantity of flour was increased because the
sacrifice was of superior value to the former. The accessory sacrifices
were always increased in proportion to the greater worth and magnitude
of its principal.
13-16. a stranger--one who had become a proselyte. There were scarcely
any of the national privileges of the Israelites, in which the Gentile
stranger might not, on conforming to certain conditions, fully
participate.
19. when ye eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up an heave
offering--The offering prescribed was to precede the act of eating.
unto the Lord--that is, the priests of the Lord (Eze 44:30).
20. heave offering of the threshing-floor--meaning the corn on the
threshing-floor; that is, after harvest.
so shall ye heave it--to the priests accompanying the ceremony with the
same rites.
22. if ye have erred, and not observed all these commandments,
&c.--respecting the performance of divine worship, and the rites and
ceremonies that constitute the holy service. The law relates only to
any omission and consequently is quite different from that laid down in
Le 4:13, which implies a transgression or positive neglect of some
observances required. This law relates to private parties or individual
tribes; that to the whole congregation of Israel.
24-26. if aught be committed by ignorance--The Mosaic ritual was
complicated, and the ceremonies to be gone through in the various
instances of purification which are specified, would expose a
worshipper, through ignorance, to the risk of omitting or neglecting
some of them. This law includes the stranger in the number of those for
whom the sacrifice was offered for the sin of general ignorance.
27-29. if any soul sin through ignorance--not only in common with the
general body of the people, but his personal sins were to be expiated
in the same manner.
30. the soul that doeth aught presumptuously--Hebrew, "with an high" or
"uplifted hand"--that is, knowingly, wilfully, obstinately. In this
sense the phraseology occurs (Ex 14:8; Le 26:21; Ps 19:13).
the same reproacheth the Lord--sets Him at open defiance and dishonors
His majesty.
31. his iniquity shall be upon him--The punishment of his sins shall
fall on himself individually; no guilt shall be incurred by the nation,
unless there be a criminal carelessness in overlooking the offense.
32-34. a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day--This incident
is evidently narrated as an instance of presumptuous sin. The mere
gathering of sticks was not a sinful act and might be necessary for
fuel to warm him or to make ready his food. But its being done on the
Sabbath altered the entire character of the action. The law of the
Sabbath being a plain and positive commandment, this transgression of
it was a known and wilful sin, and it was marked by several
aggravations. For the deed was done with unblushing boldness in broad
daylight, in open defiance of the divine authority--in flagrant
inconsistency with His religious connection with Israel, as the
covenant-people of God; and it was an application to improper purposes
of time, which God had consecrated to Himself and the solemn duties of
religion. The offender was brought before the rulers, who, on hearing
the painful report, were at a loss to determine what ought to be done.
That they should have felt any embarrassment in such a case may seem
surprising, in the face of the sabbath law (Ex 31:14). Their difficulty
probably arose from this being the first public offense of the kind
which had occurred; and the appeal might be made to remove all ground
of complaint--to produce a more striking effect, so that the fate of
this criminal might be a beacon to warn all Israelites in the future.
35, 36. The Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to
death--The Lord was King, as well as God of Israel, and the offense
being a violation of the law of the realm, the Sovereign Judge gave
orders that this man should be put to death; and, moreover, He required
the whole congregation unite in executing the fatal sentence.
38. bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their
garments--These were narrow strips, in a wing-like form, wrapped over
the shoulders and on various parts of the attire. "Fringe," however, is
the English rendering of two distinct Hebrew words--the one meaning a
narrow lappet or edging, called the "hem" or "border" (Mt 23:5; Lu
8:44), which, in order to make it more attractive to the eye and
consequently more serviceable to the purpose described, was covered
with a riband of blue or rather purple color; the other term signifies
strings with tassels at the end, fastened to the corners of the
garment. Both of these are seen on the Egyptian and Assyrian frocks;
and as the Jewish people were commanded by express and repeated
ordinances to have them, the fashion was rendered subservient, in their
case, to awaken high and religious associations--to keep them in
habitual remembrance of the divine commandments.
41. I am the Lord your God--The import of this solemn conclusion is,
that though He was displeased with them for their frequent rebellions,
for which they would be doomed to forty years' wanderings, He would not
abandon them but continue His divine protection and care of them till
they were brought into the land of promise.
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CHAPTER 16
Nu 16:1-30. The Rebellion of Korah.
1, 2. Now Korah, the son of Izhar--Izhar, brother of Amram (Ex 6:18),
was the second son of Kohath, and for some reason unrecorded he had
been supplanted by a descendant of the fourth son of Kohath, who was
appointed prince or chief of the Kohathites (Nu 3:30). Discontent with
the preferment over him of a younger relative was probably the
originating cause of this seditious movement on the part of Korah.
Dathan and Abiram, ... and On--These were confederate leaders in the
rebellion, but On seems to have afterwards withdrawn from the
conspiracy [compare Nu 16:12, 24, 25, 27; 26:9; De 11:6; Ps 106:17].
took men--The latter mentioned individuals, being all sons of Reuben,
the eldest of Jacob's family, had been stimulated to this insurrection
on the pretext that Moses had, by an arbitrary arrangement, taken away
the right of primogeniture, which had vested the hereditary dignity of
the priesthood in the first-born of every family, with a view of
transferring the hereditary exercise of the sacred functions to a
particular branch of his own house; and that this gross instance of
partiality to his own relations, to the permanent detriment of others,
was a sufficient ground for refusing allegiance to his government. In
addition to this grievance, another cause of jealousy and
dissatisfaction that rankled in the breasts of the Reubenites was the
advancement of Judah to the leadership among the tribes. These
malcontents had been incited by the artful representations of Korah
(Jude 11), with whom the position of their camp on the south side
afforded them facilities of frequent intercourse. In addition to his
feeling of personal wrongs, Korah participated in their desire (if he
did not originate the attempt) to recover their lost rights of
primogeniture. When the conspiracy was ripe, they openly and boldly
declared its object, and at the head of two hundred fifty princes,
charged Moses with an ambitious and unwarrantable usurpation of
authority, especially in the appropriation of the priesthood, for they
disputed the claim of Aaron also to pre-eminence [Nu 16:3].
3. they gathered themselves together against Moses and against
Aaron--The assemblage seems to have been composed of the whole band of
conspirators; and they grounded their complaint on the fact that the
whole people, being separated to the divine service (Ex 19:6), were
equally qualified to present offerings on the altar, and that God,
being graciously, present among them by the tabernacle and the cloud,
evinced His readiness to receive sacrifices from the hand of any others
as well as from theirs.
4. when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face--This attitude of
prostration indicated not only his humble and earnest desire that God
would interpose to free him from the false and odious imputation, but
also his strong sense of the daring sin involved in this proceeding.
Whatever feelings may be entertained respecting Aaron, who had formerly
headed a sedition himself [Nu 12:1], it is impossible not to sympathize
with Moses in this difficult emergency. But he was a devout man, and
the prudential course he adopted was probably the dictate of that
heavenly wisdom with which, in answer to his prayers, he was endowed.
5-11. he spake unto Korah and unto all his company--They were first
addressed, not only because they were a party headed by his own cousin
and Moses might hope to have more influence in that quarter, but
because they were stationed near the tabernacle; and especially because
an expostulation was the more weighty coming from him who was a Levite
himself, and who was excluded along with his family from the
priesthood. But to bring the matter to an issue, he proposed a test
which would afford a decisive evidence of the divine appointment.
Even to-morrow--literally, "in the morning," the usual time of meeting
in the East for the settlement of public affairs.
the Lord will show who are his, ... even him whom he hath chosen will
he cause to come near unto him--that is, will bear attestation to his
ministry by some visible or miraculous token of His approval.
6, 7. Take your censers, Korah, and all his company, &c.--that is,
since you aspire to the priesthood, then go, perform the highest
function of the office--that of offering incense; and if you are
accepted well. How magnanimous the conduct of Moses, who was now as
willing that God's people should be priests, as formerly that they
should be prophets (Nu 11:29). But he warned them that they were making
a perilous experiment.
12-14. Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram--in a separate interview,
the ground of their mutiny being different; for while Korah murmured
against the exclusive appropriation of the priesthood to Aaron and his
family, they were opposed to the supremacy of Moses in civil power.
They refused to obey the summons; and their refusal was grounded on the
plausible pretext that their stay in the desert was prolonged for some
secret and selfish purposes of the leader, who was conducting them like
blind men wherever it suited him.
15. Moses was very wroth--Though the meekest of all men [Nu 12:3], he
could not restrain his indignation at these unjust and groundless
charges; and the highly excited state of his feeling was evinced by the
utterance of a brief exclamation in the mixed form of a prayer and an
impassioned assertion of his integrity. (Compare 1Sa 12:3).
and said unto the Lord, Respect not thou their offering--He calls it
their offering, because, though it was to be offered by Korah and his
Levitical associates, it was the united appeal of all the mutineers for
deciding the contested claims of Moses and Aaron.
16-18. Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before the
Lord--that is, at "the door of the tabernacle" (Nu 16:18), that the
assembled people might witness the experiment and be properly impressed
by the issue.
17. two hundred fifty censers--probably the small platters, common in
Egyptian families, where incense was offered to household deities and
which had been among the precious things borrowed at their departure
[Ex 12:35, 36].
20, 21. the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, Separate
yourselves from among this congregation--Curiosity to witness the
exciting spectacle attracted a vast concourse of the people, and it
would seem that the popular mind had been incited to evil by the
clamors of the mutineers against Moses and Aaron. There was something
in their behavior very offensive to God; for after His glory had
appeared--as at the installation of Aaron (Le 9:23), so now for his
confirmation in the sacred office--He bade Moses and Aaron withdraw
from the assembly "that He might consume them in a moment."
22. they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits
of all flesh--The benevolent importunity of their prayer was the more
remarkable that the intercession was made for their enemies.
24-26. Speak unto the congregation, ... Get you up from about the
tabernacle--Moses was attended in the execution of this mission by the
elders. The united and urgent entreaties of so many dignified
personages produced the desired effect of convincing the people of
their crime, and of withdrawing them from the company of men who were
doomed to destruction, lest, being partakers of their sins, they should
perish along with them.
27. the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram--Korah being a
Kohathite, his tent could not have been in the Reubenite camp, and it
does not appear that he himself was on the spot where Dathan and Abiram
stood with their families. Their attitude of defiance indicated their
daring and impenitent character, equally regardless of God and man.
28-34. Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to
do all these works--The awful catastrophe of the earthquake which, as
predicted by Moses, swallowed up those impious rebels in a living tomb,
gave the divine attestation to the mission of Moses and struck the
spectators with solemn awe.
35. there came out a fire from the Lord--that is, from the cloud. This
seems to describe the destruction of Korah and those Levites who with
him aspired to the functions of the priesthood. (See Nu 26:11, 58; 1Ch
6:22, 37).
37-40. Speak unto Eleazar--He was selected lest the high priest might
contract defilement from going among the dead carcasses.
39, 40. the brazen censers ... made broad plates to be a memorial--The
altar of burnt offerings, being made of wood and covered with brass,
this additional covering of broad plates not only rendered it doubly
secure against the fire, but served as a warning beacon to deter all
from future invasions of the priesthood.
41. the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron,
saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord--What a strange
exhibition of popular prejudice and passion--to blame the leaders for
saving the rebels! Yet Moses and Aaron interceded for the people--the
high priest perilling his own life in doing good to that perverse race.
48. he stood between the living and the dead--The plague seems to have
begun in the extremities of the camp. Aaron, in this remarkable act,
was a type of Christ.
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CHAPTER 17
Nu 17:1-13. Aaron's Rod Flourishes.
2-5. Speak unto the children of Israel--The controversy with Moses and
Aaron about the priesthood was of such a nature and magnitude as
required a decisive and authoritative settlement. For the removal of
all doubts and the silencing of all murmuring in the future regarding
the holder of the office, a miracle was wrought of a remarkable
character and permanent duration; and in the manner of performing it,
all the people were made to have a direct and special interest.
take of every one ... princes ... twelve rods--As the princes, being
the oldest sons of the chief family, and heads of their tribes, might
have advanced the best claims to the priesthood, if that sacred dignity
was to be shared among all the tribes, they were therefore selected,
and being twelve in number--that of Joseph being counted only
one--Moses was ordered to see that the name of each was inscribed--a
practice borrowed from the Egyptians--upon his rod or wand of office.
The name of Aaron rather than of Levi was used, as the latter name
would have opened a door of controversy among the Levites; and as there
was to be one rod only for the head of each tribe, the express
appointment of a rod for Aaron determined him to be the head of that
tribe, as well as that branch or family of the tribe to which the
priestly dignity should belong. These rods were to be laid in the
tabernacle close to the ark (compare Nu 17:10 and Heb 9:4), where a
divine token was promised that would for all time terminate the
dispute.
6. the rod of Aaron was among their rods--either one of the twelve, or,
as many suppose, a thirteenth in the midst (Heb 9:4). The rods were of
dry sticks or wands, probably old, as transmitted from one head of the
family to a succeeding.
8. Moses went into the tabernacle--being privileged to do so on this
occasion by the special command of God. And he there beheld the
remarkable spectacle of Aaron's rod--which, according to Josephus, was
a stick of an almond tree, bearing fruit in three different stages at
once--buds, blossoms, and fruit.
10. Bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a
token against the rebels--For if, after all admonitions and judgments,
seconded by miracles, the people should still rebel, they would
certainly pay the penalty by death.
12, 13. Behold, we die, we perish--an exclamation of fear, both from
the remembrance of former judgments, and the apprehension of future
relapses into murmuring.
13. cometh any thing near--that is, nearer than he ought to do; an
error into which many may fall. Will the stern justice of God overtake
every slight offense? We shall all be destroyed. Some, however, regard
this exclamation as the symptom or a new discontent, rather than the
indication of a reverential and submissive spirit. Let us fear and sin
not.
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CHAPTER 18
Nu 18:1-7. The Charge of the Priests and Levites.
1. the Lord said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father's house
with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary--Security is here
given to the people from the fears expressed (Nu 17:12), by the
responsibility of attending to all sacred things being devolved upon
the priesthood, together with the penalties incurred through neglect;
and thus the solemn responsibilities annexed to their high dignity, of
having to answer not only for their own sins, but also for the sins of
the people, were calculated in a great measure to remove all feeling of
envy at the elevation of Aaron's family, when the honor was weighed in
the balance with its burdens and dangers.
2-7. thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi--The departments of the
sacred office, to be filled respectively by the priests and Levites,
are here assigned to each. To the priests was committed the charge of
the sanctuary and the altar, while the Levites were to take care of
everything else about the tabernacle. The Levites were to attend the
priests as servants--bestowed on them as "gifts" to aid in the service
of the tabernacle--while the high and dignified office of the
priesthood was a "service of gift." "A stranger," that is, one, neither
a priest nor a Levite, who should intrude into any departments of the
sacred office, should incur the penalty of death.
Nu 18:8-20. The Priests' Portion.
8-13. the Lord spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the
charge of my heave offerings--A recapitulation is made in this passage
of certain perquisites specially appropriated to the maintenance of the
priests. They were parts of the votive and freewill offerings,
including both meat and bread, wine and oil, and the first-fruits,
which formed a large and valuable item.
14. Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine--provided it was
adapted for food or consumable by use; for the gold and silver vessels
that were dedicated as the spoils of victory were not given to the
priests, but for the use and adornment of the sacred edifice.
19. it is a covenant of salt--that is, a perpetual ordinance. This
figurative form of expression was evidently founded on the conservative
property of salt, which keeps meat from corruption; and hence it became
an emblem of inviolability and permanence. It is a common phrase among
Oriental people, who consider the eating of salt a pledge of fidelity,
binding them in a covenant of friendship. Hence the partaking of the
altar meats, which were appropriated to the priests on condition of
their services and of which salt formed a necessary accompaniment, was
naturally called "a covenant of salt" (Le 2:13).
Nu 18:21-32. The Levites' Portion.
21, 22. I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for
an inheritance, for their service which they serve--Neither the priests
nor the Levites were to possess any allotments of land but to depend
entirely upon Him who liberally provided for them out of His own
portion; and this law was subservient to many important purposes--such
as that, being exempted from the cares and labors of worldly business,
they might be exclusively devoted to His service; that a bond of mutual
love and attachment might be formed between the people and the Levites,
who, as performing religious services for the people, derived their
subsistence from them; and further, that being the more easily
dispersed among the different tribes, they might be more useful in
instructing and directing the people.
23. But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the
congregation: they shall bear their iniquity--They were to be
responsible for the right discharge of those duties that were assigned
to them, and consequently to bear the penalty that was due to
negligence or carelessness in the guardianship of the holy things.
26. the Levites ... offer ... a tenth of the tithe--Out of their own
they were to pay tithes to the priests equally as the people gave to
them. The best of their tithes was to be assigned to the priests, and
afterwards they enjoyed the same liberty to make use of the remainder
that other Israelites had of the produce of their threshing-floors and
wine-presses.
32. ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, &c.--Neglect in having the
best entailed sin in the use of such unhallowed food. And the holy
things would be polluted by the reservation to themselves of what
should be offered to God and the priests.
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CHAPTER 19
Nu 19:1-22. The Water of Separation.
2. This is the ordinance of the law--an institution of a peculiar
nature ordained by law for the purification of sin, and provided at the
public expense because it was for the good of the whole community.
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer
without spot, &c.--This is the only case in which the color of the
victim is specified. It has been supposed the ordinance was designed in
opposition to the superstitious notions of the Egyptians. That people
never offered a vow but they sacrificed a red bull, the greatest care
being taken by their priests in examining whether it possessed the
requisite characteristics, and it was an annual offering to Typhon,
their evil being. By the choice, both of the sex and the color,
provision was made for eradicating from the minds of the Israelites a
favorite Egyptian superstition regarding two objects of their animal
worship.
3-6. ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest that he may bring her
forth without the camp--He was the second or deputy high priest, and he
was selected for this duty because the execution of it entailed
temporary defilement, from which the acting high priest was to be
preserved with the greatest care. It was led "forth without the camp,"
in accordance with the law regarding victims laden with the sins of the
people, and thus typical of Christ (Heb 13:12; also Le 24:14). The
priest was to sprinkle the blood "seven times" before--literally,
"towards" or "near" the tabernacle, a description which seems to imply
either that he carried a portion of the blood in a basin to the door of
the tabernacle (Le 4:17), or that in the act of sprinkling he turned
his face towards the sacred edifice, being disqualified through the
defiling influence of this operation from approaching close to it. By
this attitude he indicated that he was presenting an expiatory
sacrifice, for the acceptance of which he hoped, in the grace of God,
by looking to the mercy seat. Every part of it was consumed by fire
except the blood used in sprinkling, and the ingredients mixed with the
ashes were the same as those employed in the sprinkling of lepers (Le
14:4-7). It was a water of separation--that is, of "sanctification" for
the people of Israel.
7. the priest shall be unclean until the even--The ceremonies
prescribed show the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood, while
they typify the condition of Christ when expiating our sins (2Co 5:21).
11-22. He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean--This
law is noticed here to show the uses to which the water of separation
[Nu 19:9] was applied. The case of a death is one; and as in every
family which sustained a bereavement the members of the household
became defiled, so in an immense population, where instances of
mortality and other cases of uncleanness would be daily occurring, the
water of separation must have been in constant requisition. To afford
the necessary supply of the cleansing mixture, the Jewish writers say
that a red heifer was sacrificed every year, and that the ashes,
mingled with the sprinkling ingredients, were distributed through all
the cities and towns of Israel.
12. He shall purify himself ... the third day--The necessity of
applying the water on the third day is inexplicable on any natural or
moral ground; and, therefore, the regulation has been generally
supposed to have had a typical reference to the resurrection, on that
day, of Christ, by whom His people are sanctified; while the process of
ceremonial purification being extended over seven days, was intended to
show that sanctification is progressive and incomplete till the arrival
of the eternal Sabbath. Every one knowingly and presumptuously
neglecting to have himself sprinkled with this water was guilty of an
offense which was punished by excommunication.
14. when a man dieth in a tent, &c.--The instances adduced appear very
minute and trivial; but important ends, both of a religious and of a
sanitary nature, were promoted by carrying the idea of pollution from
contact with dead bodies to so great an extent. While it would
effectually prevent that Egyptianized race of Israelites imitating the
superstitious custom of the Egyptians, who kept in their houses the
mummied remains of their ancestors, it ensured a speedy interment to
all, thus not only keeping burial places at a distance, but removing
from the habitations of the living the corpses of persons who died from
infectious disorders, and from the open field the unburied remains of
strangers and foreigners who fell in battle.
21. he that sprinkleth ... ; and he that toucheth the water of
separation shall be unclean until even--The opposite effects ascribed
to the water of separation--of cleansing one person and defiling
another--are very singular, and not capable of very satisfactory
explanation. One important lesson, however, was thus taught, that its
purifying efficacy was not inherent in itself, but arose from the
divine appointment, as in other ordinances of religion, which are
effectual means of salvation, not from any virtue in them, or in him
that administers them, but solely through the grace of God communicated
thereby.
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CHAPTER 20
Nu 20:1-29. The Death of Miriam.
1. Then came the children of Israel ... into the desert of Zin in the
first month--that is, of the fortieth year (compare Nu 20:22, 23, with
Nu 33:38). In this history only the principal and most important
incidents are recorded, those confined chiefly to the first or second
and the last years of the journeyings in the wilderness, thence called
Et-Tih. Between Nu 19:22 and Nu 20:1 there is a long and undescribed
interval of thirty-seven years.
the people abode in Kadesh--supposed to be what is now known as
Ain-el-Weibeh, three springs surrounded by palms. (See on Nu 13:26). It
was their second arrival after an interval of thirty-eight years (De
2:14). The old generation had nearly all died, and the new one encamped
in it with the view of entering the promised land, not, however, as
formerly on the south, but by crossing the Edomite region on the east.
Miriam died there--four months before Aaron [Nu 33:38].
2-13. there was no water for the congregation--There was at Kadesh a
fountain, En-Mishpat (Ge 14:7), and at the first encampment of the
Israelites there was no want of water. It was then either partially
dried up by the heat of the season, or had been exhausted by the
demands of so vast a multitude.
6. Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly--Here is a
fresh ebullition of the untamed and discontented spirit of the people.
The leaders fled to the precincts of the sanctuary, both as an asylum
from the increasing fury of the highly excited rabble, and as their
usual refuge in seasons of perplexity and danger, to implore the
direction and aid of God.
8. Take the rod--which had been deposited in the tabernacle (Nu 17:10),
the wonder-working rod by which so many miracles had been performed,
sometimes called "the rod of God" (Ex 4:20), sometimes Moses' (Nu
20:11) or Aaron's rod (Ex 7:12).
10. [Moses] said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you
water out of this rock?--The conduct of the great leader on this
occasion was hasty and passionate (Ps 106:33). He had been directed to
speak to the rock [Nu 20:8], but he smote it twice [Nu 20:11] in his
impetuosity, thus endangering the blossoms of the rod, and, instead of
speaking to the rock, he spoke to the people in a fury.
11. the congregation drank, and their beasts--Physically the water
afforded the same kind of needful refreshment to both. But from a
religious point of view, this, which was only a common element to the
cattle, was a sacrament to the people (1Co 10:3, 4)--It possessed a
relative sanctity imparted to it by its divine origin and use.
12. The Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not,
&c.--The act of Moses in smiting twice betrayed a doubt, not of the
power, but of the will of God to gratify such a rebellious people, and
his exclamation seems to have emanated from a spirit of incredulity
akin to Sarai's (Ge 18:13). These circumstances indicate the influence
of unbelief, and there might have been others unrecorded which led to
so severe a chastisement.
13. This is the water of Meribah--The word "Kadesh" is added to it [De
32:51] to distinguish it from another Meribah (Ex 17:7).
14-16. Moses sent messengers ... to the king of Edom--The encampment at
Kadesh was on the confines of the Edomite territory, through which the
Israelites would have had an easy passage across the Arabah by
Wady-el-Ghuweir, so that they could have continued their course around
Moab, and approached Palestine from the east [Roberts]. The Edomites,
being the descendants of Esau and tracing their line of descent from
Abraham as their common stock, were recognized by the Israelites as
brethren, and a very brotherly message was sent to them.
17. we will go by the king's highway--probably Wady-el-Ghuweir
[Roberts], through which ran one of the great lines of road,
constructed for commercial caravans, as well as for the progress of
armies. The engineering necessary for carrying them over marshes or
mountains, and the care requisite for protecting them from the shifting
sands, led to their being under the special care of the state. Hence
the expression, "the king's highway," which is of great antiquity.
19. if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it--From
the scarcity of water in the warm climates of the East, the practice of
levying a tax for the use of the wells is universal; and the jealousy
of the natives, in guarding the collected treasures of rain, is often
so great that water cannot be procured for money.
21. Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border, &c.--A
churlish refusal obliged them to take another route. (See on Nu 21:4;
De 2:4; and Jud 11:18; see also 1Sa 14:47; 2Sa 8:14, which describe the
retribution that was taken.)
22. the children of Israel ... came unto mount Hor--now Gebel Haroun,
the most striking and lofty elevation in the Seir range, called
emphatically "the mount" [Nu 20:28]. It is conspicuous by its double
top.
24-28. Aaron shall be gathered unto his people--In accordance with his
recent doom, he, attired in the high priest's costume, was commanded to
ascend that mountain and die. But although the time of his death was
hastened by the divine displeasure as a punishment for his sins, the
manner of his death was arranged in tenderness of love, and to do him
honor at the close of his earthly service. His ascent of the mount was
to afford him a last look of the camp and a distant prospect of the
promised land. The simple narrative of the solemn and impressive scene
implies, though it does not describe, the pious resignation, settled
faith, and inward peace of the aged pontiff.
26. strip Aaron of his garments--that is, his pontifical robes, in
token of his resignation. (See Isa 22:20-25).
put them on his son--as the inauguration into his high office. Having
been formerly anointed with the sacred oil, that ceremony was not
repeated, or, as some think, it was done on his return to the camp.
28. Aaron died there in the top of the mount--(See on De 10:6). A tomb
has been erected upon or close by the spot where he was buried.
29. When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead--Moses and
Eleazar were the sole witnesses of his departure (Nu 20:28). According
to the established law, the new high priest could not have been present
at the funeral of his father without contracting ceremonial defilement
(Le 21:11). But that law was dispensed with in the extraordinary
circumstances. The people learned the event not only from the recital
of the two witnesses, but from their visible signs of grief and change;
and this event betokened the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood
(Heb 7:12).
they mourned for Aaron thirty days--the usual period of public and
solemn mourning. (See on De 34:8).
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 21
Nu 21:1-35. Israel Attacked by the Canaanites.
1. King Arad the Canaanite--rather, "the Canaanite king of Arad"--an
ancient town on the southernmost borders of Palestine, not far from
Kadesh. A hill called Tell Arad marks the spot.
heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies--in the way or
manner of spies, stealthily, or from spies sent by himself to ascertain
the designs and motions of the Israelites. The Septuagint and others
consider the Hebrew word "spies" a proper name, and render it: "Came by
the way of Atharim towards Arad" [Kennicott].
he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners--This
discomfiture was permitted to teach them to expect the conquest of
Canaan not from their own wisdom and valor, but solely from the favor
and help of God (De 9:4; Ps 44:3, 4).
2, 3. Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord--Made to feel their own
weakness, they implored the aid of Heaven, and, in anticipation of it,
devoted the cities of this king to future destruction. The nature and
consequence of such anathemas are described (Le 27:1-34; De 13:1-18).
This vow of extermination against Arad [Nu 21:2] gave name to the place
Hormah (slaughter and destruction) though it was not accomplished till
after the passage of the Jordan. Others think Hormah the name of a town
mentioned (Jos 12:14).
4. they journeyed from mount Hor--On being refused the passage
requested, they returned through the Arabah, "the way of the Red Sea,"
to Elath, at the head of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, and thence
passed up through the mountains to the eastern desert, so as to make
the circuit of the land of Edom (Nu 33:41, 42).
the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the
way--Disappointment on finding themselves so near the confines of the
promised land without entering it; vexation at the refusal of a passage
through Edom and the absence of any divine interposition in their
favor; and above all, the necessity of a retrograde journey by a long
and circuitous route through the worst parts of a sandy desert and the
dread of being plunged into new and unknown difficulties--all this
produced a deep depression of spirits. But it was followed, as usually,
by a gross outburst of murmuring at the scarcity of water, and of
expressions of disgust at the manna.
5. our soul loatheth this light bread--that is, bread without substance
or nutritious quality. The refutation of this calumny appears in the
fact, that on the strength of this food they performed for forty years
so many and toilsome journeys. But they had been indulging a hope of
the better and more varied fare enjoyed by a settled people; and
disappointment, always the more bitter as the hope of enjoyment seems
near, drove them to speak against God and against Moses (1Co 10:9).
6. The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people--That part of the
desert where the Israelites now were--near the head of the gulf of
Akaba--is greatly infested with venomous reptiles, of various kinds,
particularly lizards, which raise themselves in the air and swing
themselves from branches; and scorpions, which, being in the habit of
lying in long grass, are particularly dangerous to the barelegged,
sandaled people of the East. The only known remedy consists in sucking
the wound, or, in the case of cattle, in the application of ammonia.
The exact species of serpents that caused so great mortality among the
Israelites cannot be ascertained. They are said to have been "fiery,"
an epithet applied to them either from their bright, vivid color, or
the violent inflammation their bite occasioned.
7-9. the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned--The severity
of the scourge and the appalling extent of mortality brought them to a
sense of sin, and through the intercessions of Moses, which they
implored, they were miraculously healed. He was directed to make the
figure of a serpent in brass, to be elevated on a pole or standard,
that it might be seen at the extremities of the camp and that every
bitten Israelite who looked to it might be healed. This peculiar method
of cure was designed, in the first instance, to show that it was the
efficacy of God's power and grace, not the effect of nature or art, and
also that it might be a type of the power of faith in Christ to heal
all who look to Him because of their sins (Joh 3:14, 15; see also on
2Ki 18:4).
10. the children of Israel set forward--along the eastern frontier of
the Edomites, encamping in various stations.
12. pitched in the valley--literally, the "woody brook-valley" of Zared
(De 2:13; Isa 15:7; Am 6:14). This torrent rises among the mountains to
the east of Moab, and flowing west, empties itself into the Dead Sea.
Ije-Abarim is supposed to have been its ford [Calmet].
13. pitched on the other side of Arnon--now El-Mojib, a deep, broad,
and rapid stream, dividing the dominions of the Moabites and Amorites.
14. book of the wars of the Lord--A fragment or passage is here quoted
from a poem or history of the wars of the Israelites, principally with
a view to decide the position of Arnon.
15. Ar--the capital of Moab.
16. from thence they went to Beer--that is, a "well." The name was
probably given to it afterwards [see Jud 9:21], as it is not mentioned
(Nu 33:1-56).
17, 18. Then Israel sang--This beautiful little song was in accordance
with the wants and feelings of travelling caravans in the East, where
water is an occasion both of prayer and thanksgiving. From the princes
using their official rods only, and not spades, it seems probable that
this well was concealed by the brushwood or the sand, as is the case
with many wells in Idumea still. The discovery of it was seasonable,
and owing to the special interposition of God.
21-23. Israel sent messengers unto Sihon--The rejection of their
respectful and pacific message was resented--Sihon was discomfited in
battle--and Israel obtained by right of conquest the whole of the
Amorite dominions.
24. from Arnon unto Jabbok--now the Zurka. These rivers formed the
southern and northern boundaries of his usurped territory.
for the border of ... Ammon was strong--a reason stated for Sihon not
being able to push his invasion further.
25. Israel dwelt in all the cities--after exterminating the inhabitants
who had been previously doomed (De 2:34).
26. Heshbon--(So 7:4)--situated sixteen English miles north of the
Arnon, and from its ruins it appears to have been a large city.
27-30. Wherefore they that speak in proverbs--Here is given an extract
from an Amorite song exultingly anticipating an extension of their
conquests to Arnon. The quotation from the poem of the Amorite bard
ends at Nu 21:28. The two following verses appear to be the strains in
which the Israelites expose the impotence of the usurpers.
29. people of Chemosh--the name of the Moabite idol (1Ki 11:7-33; 2Ki
23:13; Jer 48:46).
he--that is, their god, hath surrendered his worshippers to the
victorious arms of Sihon.
33. they turned and went up by the way of Bashan--a name given to that
district from the richness of the soil--now Batanea or El-Bottein--a
hilly region east of the Jordan lying between the mountains of Hermon
on the north and those of Gilead on the south.
Og--a giant, an Amoritish prince, who, having opposed the progress of
the Israelites, was defeated.
34, 35. The Lord said unto Moses, Fear him not--a necessary
encouragement, for Og's gigantic stature (De 3:11) was calculated to
inspire terror. He and all his were put to the sword.
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CHAPTER 22
Nu 22:1-20. Balak's First Message for Balaam Refused.
1. Israel ... pitched in the plains of Moab--so called from having
formerly belonged to that people, though wrested from them by Sihon. It
was a dry, sunken, desert region on the east of the Jordan valley,
opposite Jericho.
2. Balak--that is, "empty." Terrified (De 2:25; Ex 15:15) at the
approach of so vast a multitude and not daring to encounter them in the
field, he resolved to secure their destruction by other means.
4. elders of Midian--called kings (Nu 31:8) and princes (Jos 13:21).
The Midianites, a distinct people on the southern frontier of Moab,
united with them as confederates against Israel, their common enemy.
5. He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam--that is, "lord" or
"devourer" of people, a famous soothsayer (Jos 13:22).
son of Beor--or, in the Chaldee form, Bosor--that is, "destruction."
Pethor--a city of Mesopotamia, situated on the Euphrates.
6. Come ... curse me this people--Among the heathen an opinion
prevailed that prayers for evil or curses would be heard by the unseen
powers as well as prayers for good, when offered by a prophet or priest
and accompanied by the use of certain rites. Many examples are found in
the histories of the Greeks and Romans of whole armies being devoted to
destruction, and they occur among the natives of India and other
heathen countries still. In the Burmese war, magicians were employed to
curse the British troops.
7. the elders of Moab and ... of Midian departed with the rewards of
divination--like the fee of a fortune teller, and being a royal
present, it would be something handsome.
8-14. Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the
Lord shall speak unto me, &c.--God usually revealed His will in visions
and dreams; and Balaam's birth and residence in Mesopotamia, where the
remains of patriarchal religion still lingered, account for his
knowledge of the true God. His real character has long been a subject
of discussion. Some, judging from his language, have thought him a
saint; others, looking to his conduct, have described him as an
irreligious charlatan; and a third class consider him a novice in the
faith, who had a fear of God, but who had not acquired power over his
passions [Hengstenberg].
13-15. the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you--This answer
has an appearance of being good, but it studiously concealed the reason
of the divine prohibition [Nu 22:12], and it intimated his own
willingness and desire to go--if permitted. Balak despatched a second
mission, which held out flattering prospects, both to his avarice and
his ambition (Ge 31:30).
19, 20. tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the Lord
will say unto me more--The divine will, as formerly declared, not being
according to his desires, he hoped by a second request to bend it, as
he had already bent his own conscience, to his ruling passions of pride
and covetousness. The permission granted to Balaam is in accordance
with the ordinary procedure of Providence. God often gives up men to
follow the impulse of their own lusts; but there is no approval in thus
leaving them to act at the prompting of their own wicked hearts (Jos
13:27).
Nu 22:21-41. The Journey.
21. Balaam ... saddled his ass--probably one of the white sprightly
animals which persons of rank were accustomed to ride. The saddle, as
usually in the East, would be nothing more than a pad or his outer
cloak.
22. God's anger was kindled because he went--The displeasure arose
partly from his neglecting the condition on which leave was granted
him--namely, to wait till the princes of Moab "came to call him" [Nu
22:20], and because, through desire for "the wages of unrighteousness"
[2Pe 2:15], he entertained the secret purpose of acting in opposition
to the solemn charge of God.
24. the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards--The roads
which lead through fields and vineyards are so narrow that in most
parts a man could not pass a beast without care and caution. A stone or
mud fence flanks each side of these roads, to prevent the soil being
washed off by the rains.
28. the Lord opened the mouth of the ass--to utter, like a parrot,
articulate sounds, without understanding them. That this was a
visionary scene is a notion which seems inadmissible, because of the
improbability of a vision being described as an actual occurrence in
the middle of a plain history. Besides, the opening of the ass's mouth
must have been an external act, and that, with the manifest tenor of
Peter's language, strongly favors the literal view [2Pe 2:15, 16]. The
absence of any surprise at such a phenomenon on the part of Balaam may
be accounted for by his mind being wholly engrossed with the prospect
of gain, which produced "the madness of the prophet" [2Pe 2:16]. "It
was a miracle, wrought to humble his proud heart, which had to be first
subjected in the school of an ass before he was brought to attend to
the voice of God speaking by the angel" [Calvin].
34, 35. I have sinned ... if it displease thee, I will get me back
again--Notwithstanding this confession, he evinced no spirit of
penitence, as he speaks of desisting only from the outward act. The
words "go with the men" was a mere withdrawal of further restraint, but
the terms in which leave was given are more absolute and peremptory
than those in Nu 22:20.
36, 37. when Balak heard that Balaam was come, he went out to meet
him--Politeness requires that the higher the rank of the expected
guest, greater distance is to be gone to welcome his arrival.
38. the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak--This
appears a pious answer. It was an acknowledgment that he was restrained
by a superior power.
39. Kirjath-huzoth--that is, "a city of streets."
40. Balak offered oxen and sheep--made preparations for a grand
entertainment to Balaam and the princes of Midian.
41. high places of Baal--eminences consecrated to the worship of
Baal-peor (see on Nu 25:3) or Chemosh.
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CHAPTER 23
Nu 23:1-30. Balak's Sacrifices.
1. Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars--Balak, being a
heathen, would naturally suppose these altars were erected in honor of
Baal, the patron deity of his country. It is evident, from Nu 23:4 that
they were prepared for the worship of the true God; although in
choosing the high places of Baal as their site and rearing a number of
altars (2Ki 18:22; Isa 17:8; Jer 11:13; Ho 8:11; 10:1), instead of one
only, as God had appointed, Balaam blended his own superstitions with
the divine worship. The heathen, both in ancient and modern times,
attached a mysterious virtue to the number seven; and Balaam, in
ordering the preparation of so many altars, designed to mystify and
delude the king.
3. Stand by thy burnt offering--as one in expectation of an important
favor.
peradventure the Lord will come to meet me: and whatsoever he showeth
me--that is, makes known to me by word or sign.
he went to an high place--apart by himself, where he might practise
rites and ceremonies, with a view to obtain a response of the oracle.
4-6. God met Balaam--not in compliance with his incantations, but to
frustrate his wicked designs and compel him, contrary to his desires
and interests, to pronounce the following benediction [Nu 23:8-10].
7. took up his parable--that is, spoke under the influence of
inspiration, and in the highly poetical, figurative, and oracular style
of a prophet.
brought me from Aram--This word joined with "the mountains of the
East," denotes the upper portion of Mesopotamia, lying on the east of
Moab. The East enjoyed an infamous notoriety for magicians and
soothsayers (Isa 2:6).
8. How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?--A divine blessing has
been pronounced over the posterity of Jacob; and therefore, whatever
prodigies can be achieved by my charms, all magical skill, all human
power, is utterly impotent to counteract the decree of God.
9. from the top--literally, "a bare place" on the rocks, to which Balak
had taken him, for it was deemed necessary to see the people who were
to be devoted to destruction. But that commanding prospect could
contribute nothing to the accomplishment of the king's object, for the
destiny of Israel was to be a distinct, peculiar people, separated from
the rest of the nations in government, religion, customs, and divine
protection (De 33:28). So that although I might be able to gratify your
wishes against other people, I can do nothing against them (Ex 19:5; Le
20:24).
10. Who can count the dust of Jacob?--an Oriental hyperbole for a very
populous nation, as Jacob's posterity was promised to be (Ge 13:16;
28:14).
the number of the fourth part of Israel--that is, the camp consisted of
four divisions; every one of these parts was formidable in numbers.
Let me die the death of the righteous--Hebrew, "of Jeshurun"; or, the
Israelites. The meaning is: they are a people happy, above all others,
not only in life, but at death, from their knowledge of the true God,
and their hope through His grace. Balaam is a representative of a large
class in the world, who express a wish for the blessedness which Christ
has promised to His people but are averse to imitate the mind that was
in Him.
13-15. Come, ... with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest
see them--Surprised and disappointed at this unexpected eulogy on
Israel, Balak hoped that, if seen from a different point of
observation, the prophet would give utterance to different feelings;
and so, having made the same solemn preparations, Balaam retired, as
before, to wait the divine afflatus.
14. he brought him into the field of Zophim ... top of Pisgah--a flat
surface on the summit of the mountain range, which was cultivated land.
Others render it "the field of sentinels," an eminence where some of
Balak's guards were posted to give signals [Calmet].
18, 19. Rise up--As Balak was already standing (Nu 23:17), this
expression is equivalent to "now attend to me." The counsels and
promises of God respecting Israel are unchangeable; and no attempt to
prevail on Him to reverse them will succeed, as they may with a man.
21. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob--Many sins were observed and
punished in this people. But no such universal and hopeless apostasy
had as yet appeared, to induce God to abandon or destroy them.
the Lord his God is with him--has a favor for them.
and the shout of a king is among them--such joyful acclamations as of a
people rejoicing in the presence of a victorious prince.
22. he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn--Israel is not as
they were at the Exodus, a horde of poor, feeble, spiritless people,
but powerful and invincible as a reem--that is, a rhinoceros (Job 39:9;
Ps 22:21; 92:10).
23. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob--No art can ever
prevail against a people who are under the shield of Omnipotence, and
for whom miracles have been and yet shall be performed, which will be a
theme of admiration in succeeding ages.
26. All that the Lord speaketh, that I must do--a remarkable confession
that he was divinely constrained to give utterances different from what
it was his purpose and inclination to do.
28. Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor--or, Beth-peor (De 3:29),
the eminence on which a temple of Baal stood.
that looketh toward Jeshimon--the desert tract in the south of
Palestine, on both sides of the Dead Sea.
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CHAPTER 24
Nu 24:1-25. Balaam Foretells Israel's Happiness.
1. to seek for--that is, to use enchantments. His experience on the two
former occasions [Nu 23:3, 15] had taught him that these superstitious
accompaniments of his worship were useless, and therefore he now simply
looked towards the camp of Israel, either with a secret design to curse
them, or to await the divine afflatus.
2. he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes--that
is, in the orderly distribution of the camp (Nu 2:1-34).
the spirit of God came upon him--Before the regular ministry of the
prophets was instituted, God made use of various persons as the
instruments through whom He revealed His will, and Balaam was one of
these (De 23:5).
3. the man whose eyes are open--that is, a seer (1Sa 9:9), a prophet,
to whom the visioned future was disclosed--sometimes when falling into
a sleep (Ge 15:12-15), frequently into "a trance."
5-7. How goodly are thy tents, ... O Israel!--a fine burst of
admiration, expressed in highly poetical strains. All travellers
describe the beauty which the circular area of Bedouin tents impart to
the desert. How impressive, then, must have been the view, as seen from
the heights of Abarim, of the immense camp of Israel extended over the
subjacent plains.
6. As the valleys--Hebrew, "brooks," the watercourses of the mountains.
lign aloes--an aromatic shrub on the banks of his native Euphrates, the
conical form of which suggested an apt resemblance to a tent. The
redundant imagery of these verses depicts the humble origin, rapid
progress, and prosperity of Israel.
7. his king shall be higher than Agag--The Amalekites were then the
most powerful of all the desert tribes, and "Agag" a title common to
their kings.
10-14. Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands
together--The "smiting of the hands together" is, among Oriental
people, an indication of the most violent rage (see Eze 21:17; 22:13)
and ignominious dismissal.
15. he took his parable--or prophecy, uttered in a poetical style.
17. I shall see him--rather, "I do see" or "I have seen him"--a
prophetic sight, like that of Abraham (Joh 8:56).
him--that is, Israel.
there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of
Israel--This imagery, in the hieroglyphic language of the East, denotes
some eminent ruler--primarily David; but secondarily and pre-eminently,
the Messiah (see on Ge 49:10).
corners--border, often used for a whole country (Ex 8:2; Ps 74:17).
children of Sheth--some prince of Moab; or, according to some, "the
children of the East."
18. Edom shall be a possession--This prophecy was accomplished by David
(2Sa 8:14).
Seir--seen in the south, and poetically used for Edom. The double
conquest of Moab and Edom is alluded to (Ps 60:8; 108:9).
19. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion--David, and
particularly Christ.
that remaineth of the city--those who flee from the field to fortified
places (Ps 60:9).
20. Amalek ... his latter end shall be that he perish for ever--Their
territory was seen at the remote extremity of the desert. (See on Ex
17:13; also 1Sa 15:1-35).
21. Kenites ... nest in a rock--Though securely established among the
clefts in the high rocks of En-gedi towards the west, they should be
gradually reduced by a succession of enemies till the Assyrian invader
carried them into captivity (Jud 1:16; 4:11, 16, 17; also 2Ki 15:29;
17:6).
23. who shall live when God doeth this!--Few shall escape the
desolation that shall send a Nebuchadnezzar to scourge all those
regions.
24. Chittim--the countries lying on the Mediterranean, particularly
Greece and Italy (Da 11:29, 30). The Assyrians were themselves to be
overthrown--first, by the Greeks under Alexander the Great and his
successors; secondly, by the Romans.
Eber--the posterity of the Hebrews (Ge 10:24).
he also shall perish--that is, the conqueror of Asher and Eber, namely,
the Greek and Roman empires.
25. Balaam rose up, and went ... to his place--Mesopotamia, to which,
however, he did not return. (See on Nu 31:8).
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 25
Nu 25:1-18. The Israelites' Whoredom and Idolatry with Moab.
1. Israel abode in Shittim--a verdant meadow, so called from a grove of
acacia trees which lined the eastern side of the Jordan. (See Nu
33:49).
3. Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor--Baal was a general name for
"lord," and Peor for a "mount" in Moab. The real name of the idol was
Chemosh, and his rites of worship were celebrated by the grossest
obscenity. In participating in this festival, then, the Israelites
committed the double offense of idolatry and licentiousness.
4. The Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang
them up--Israelite criminals, who were capitally punished, were first
stoned or slain, and then gibbeted. The persons ordered here for
execution were the principal delinquents in the Baal-peor outrage--the
subordinate officers, rulers of tens or hundreds.
before the Lord--for vindicating the honor of the true God.
against the sun--that is, as a mark of public ignominy; but they were
to be removed towards sunset (De 21:23).
5. judges of Israel--the seventy elders, who were commanded not only to
superintend the execution within their respective jurisdictions, but to
inflict the punishment with their own hands. (See on 1Sa 15:33).
6, 7. behold, one of the children of Israel ... brought ... a
Midianitish woman--This flagitious act most probably occurred about the
time when the order was given and before its execution.
who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle--Some of the rulers
and well-disposed persons were deploring the dreadful wickedness of the
people and supplicating the mercy of God to avert impending judgments.
8. the plague--some sudden and widespread mortality.
9. those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand--Only
twenty-three thousand perished (1Co 10:8) from pestilence. Moses
includes those who died by the execution of the judges [Nu 25:5].
11-13. Phinehas ... hath turned my wrath away--This assurance was a
signal mark of honor that the stain of blood, instead of defiling,
confirmed him in office and that his posterity should continue as long
as the national existence of Israel.
14. Zimri, ... a prince ... among the Simeonites--The slaughter of a
man of such high rank is mentioned as a proof of the undaunted zeal of
Phinehas, for there might be numerous avengers of his blood.
17. Vex the Midianites, and smite them--They seem to have been the most
guilty parties. (Compare Nu 22:4; 31:8).
18. they vex you with their wiles--Instead of open war, they plot
insidious ways of accomplishing your ruin by idolatry and corruption.
their sister--their countrywoman.
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CHAPTER 26
Nu 26:1-51. Israel Numbered.
1. after the plague--That terrible visitation had swept away the
remnant of the old generation, to whom God sware in His wrath that they
should not enter Canaan (Ps 95:11).
2. Take the sum of all the congregation--The design of this new census,
after a lapse of thirty-eight years, was primarily to establish the
vast multiplication of the posterity of Abraham in spite of the severe
judgments inflicted upon them; secondarily, it was to preserve the
distinction of families and to make arrangements, preparatory to an
entrance into the promised land, for the distribution of the country
according to the relative population of the tribes.
7. These are the families of the Reubenites--the principal households,
which were subdivided into numerous smaller families. Reuben had
suffered great diminution by Korah's conspiracy and other outbreaks [Nu
16:1].
10. the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with
Korah--rather, "the things of Korah." (See on Nu 16:35; compare Ps
106:17).
11. Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not--Either they were
not parties to their father's crime, or they withdrew from it by timely
repentance. His descendants became famous in the time of David, and are
often mentioned in the Psalms [Ps 42:1; 44:1; 45:1; 46:1; 47:1; 48:1;
49:1; 84:1; 85:1; 87:1; 88:1], also in 1Ch 6:22, 38.
12. The sons of Simeon--It is supposed that this tribe had been
pre-eminent in the guilt of Baal-peor and had consequently been greatly
reduced in numbers.
Thus God's justice and holiness, as well as His truth and faithfulness,
were strikingly displayed: His justice and holiness in the sweeping
judgments that reduced the ranks of some tribes; and His truth and
faithfulness in the extraordinary increase of others so that the
posterity of Israel continued a numerous people.
53. the land shall be divided according to the number of names--The
portion of each tribe was to be greater or less, according to its
populousness.
54. To many thou shalt give the more inheritance--that is, to the more
numerous tribes a larger allotment shall be granted.
according to those that were numbered--the number of persons twenty
years old at the time of the census being made, without taking into
account either the increase of those who might have attained that age,
when the land should be actually distributed, or the diminution from
that amount, occasioned during the war of invasion.
55. the land shall be divided by lot--The appeal to the lot did not
place the matter beyond the control of God; for it is at His disposal
(Pr 16:33), and He has fixed to all the bounds of their habitation. The
manner in which the lot was taken has not been recorded. But it is
evident that the lot was cast for determining the section of the
country in which each tribe should be located--not the quantity of
their possessions. In other words, when the lot had decided that a
particular tribe was to be settled in the north or the south, the east
or the west, the extent of territory was allocated according to the
rule (Nu 26:54).
58. families of the Levites--The census of this tribe was taken
separately, and on a different principle from the rest. (See Ex
6:16-19).
62. twenty and three thousand--so that there was an increase of a
thousand (Nu 3:39).
males from a month old and upward--(See on Nu 3:14).
64. among these there was not a man ... numbered ... in the wilderness
of Sinai--The statement in this verse must not be considered absolute.
For, besides Caleb and Joshua, there were alive at this time Eleazar
and Ithamar, and in all probability a considerable number of Levites,
who had no participation in the popular defections in the wilderness.
The tribe of Levi, having neither sent a spy into Canaan, nor being
included in the enumeration at Sinai, must be regarded as not coming
within the range of the fatal sentence; and therefore it would exhibit
a spectacle not to be witnessed in the other tribes of many in their
ranks above sixty years of age.
Tribes Chap. 1 Chap. 26 Increase Decrease
Reuben 46,500 43,730 -- 2,770
Simeon 59,300 22,200 -- 37,100
Gad 45,650 40,500 -- 5,150
Judah 74,600 76,500 1,900 --
Issachar 54,400 64,300 9,900 --
Zebulun 57,400 60,500 3,100 --
Ephraim 40,500 32,500 -- 8,000
Manasseh 32,200 52,700 20,500 --
Benjamin 35,400 45,600 10,200 --
Dan 62,700 64,400 1,700 --
Asher 41,500 53,400 11,900 --
Naphtali 53,400 45,400 -- 8,000
Total 603,550 601,730 59,200 61,020
Total decrease 1,820
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CHAPTER 27
Nu 27:1-11. The Daughters of Zelophehad Ask for an Inheritance.
3. Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not ... in the company
of ... Korah--This declaration might be necessary because his death
might have occurred about the time of that rebellion; and especially
because, as the children of these conspirators were involved along with
their fathers in the awful punishment, their plea appeared the more
proper and forcible that their father did not die for any cause that
doomed his family to lose their lives or their inheritance.
died in his own sin--that is, by the common law of mortality to which
men, through sin, are subject.
4. Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father--Those
young women perceived that the males only in families had been
registered in the census. Because there were none in their household,
their family was omitted. So they made known their grievance to Moses,
and the authorities conjoined with him in administering justice. The
case was important; and as the peculiarity of daughters being the sole
members of a family would be no infrequent or uncommon occurrence, the
law of inheritance, under divine authority, was extended not only to
meet all similar cases, but other cases also--such as when there were
no children left by the proprietor, and no brothers to succeed him. A
distribution of the promised land was about to be made; and it is
interesting to know the legal provision made in these comparatively
rare cases for preserving a patrimony from being alienated to another
tribe. (See on Nu 36:5).
Nu 27:12-17. Moses Being Told of His Approaching Death, Asks for a
Successor.
12. The Lord said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and
see the land--Although the Israelites were now on the confines of the
promised land, Moses was not privileged to cross the Jordan, but died
on one of the Moabitic range of mountains, to which the general name of
Abarim was given (Nu 33:47). The privation of this great honor was
owing to the unhappy conduct he had manifested in the striking of the
rock at Meribah [Nu 20:12]; and while the pious leader submitted with
meek acquiescence to the divine decree, he evinced the spirit of
genuine patriotism in his fervent prayers for the appointment of a
worthy and competent successor [Nu 27:15-17].
16. God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the
congregation--The request was most suitably made to God in this
character, as the Author of all the intellectual gifts and moral graces
with which men are endowed, and who can raise up qualified persons for
the most arduous duties and the most difficult situations.
Nu 27:18-23. Joshua Appointed to Succeed Him.
18. Take thee Joshua ... a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine
hand upon him--A strong testimony is here borne to the personality of
the divine Spirit--the imposition of hands was an ancient ceremony.
(See Ge 48:14; Le 1:4; 1Ti 4:14).
20, 21. Thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him--In the whole
history of Israel there arose no prophet or ruler in all respects like
unto Moses till the Messiah appeared, whose glory eclipsed all. But
Joshua was honored and qualified in an eminent degree, through the
special service of the high priest, who asked counsel for him after the
judgment of Urim before the Lord.
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CHAPTER 28
Nu 28:1-31. Offerings to Be Observed.
2. Command the children of Israel, and say unto them--The repetition of
several laws formerly enacted, which is made in this chapter, was
seasonable and necessary, not only on account of their importance and
the frequent neglect of them, but because a new generation had sprung
up since their first institution and because the Israelites were about
to be settled in the land where those ordinances were to be observed.
My offering, and my bread--used generally for the appointed offerings,
and the import of the prescription is to enforce regularity and care in
their observance.
9, 10. This is the burnt offering of every sabbath--There is no
previous mention of a Sabbath burnt offering, which was additional to
the daily sacrifices.
11-15. And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt
offering unto the Lord--These were held as sacred festivals; and though
not possessing the character of solemn feasts, they were distinguished
by the blowing of trumpets over the sacrifices (Nu 10:10), by the
suspension of all labor except the domestic occupations of women (Am
8:5), by the celebration of public worship (2Ki 4:23), and by social or
family feasts (1Sa 20:5). These observations are not prescribed in the
law though they obtained in the practice of a later time. The beginning
of the month was known, not by astronomical calculations, but,
according to Jewish writers, by the testimony of messengers appointed
to watch the first visible appearance of the new moon; and then the
fact was announced through the whole country by signal-fires kindled on
the mountain tops. The new-moon festivals having been common among the
heathen, it is probable that an important design of their institution
in Israel was to give the minds of that people a better direction; and
assuming this to have been one of the objects contemplated, it will
account for one of the kids being offered unto the Lord (Nu 28:15), not
unto the moon, as the Egyptians and Syrians did. The Sabbath and the
new moon are frequently mentioned together.
16-25. in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover--The
law for that great annual festival is given (Le 23:5), but some details
are here introduced, as certain specified offerings are prescribed to
be made on each of the seven days of unleavened bread [Nu 28:18-25].
26, 27. in the day of the first-fruits ... offer the burnt offering--A
new sacrifice is here ordered for the celebration of this festival, in
addition to the other offering, which was to accompany the first-fruits
(Le 23:18).
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CHAPTER 29
Nu 29:1-40. The Offering at the Feast of Trumpets.
1. in the seventh month--of the ecclesiastical year, but the first
month of the civil year, corresponding to our September. It was, in
fact, the New Year's Day, which had been celebrated among the Hebrews
and other contemporary nations with great festivity and joy and ushered
in by a flourish of trumpets. This ordinance was designed to give a
religious character to the occasion by associating it with some solemn
observances. (Compare Ex 12:2; Le 23:24).
it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you--This made it a solemn
preparation for the sacred feasts--a greater number of which were held
during this month than at any other season of the year. Although the
institution of this feast was described before, there is more
particularity here as to what the burnt offering should consist of;
and, in addition to it, a sin offering is prescribed. The special
offerings, appointed for certain days, were not to interfere with the
offerings usually requisite on these days, for in Nu 29:6 it is said
that the daily offerings, as well as those for the first day of the
month, were to take place in their ordinary course.
7-11. ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy
convocation--This was the great day of atonement. Its institution,
together with the observance to which that day was devoted, was
described (Le 16:29, 30). But additional offerings seem to be noticed,
namely, the large animal sacrifice for a general expiation, which was a
sweet savor unto the Lord, and the sin offering to atone for the sins
that mingled with that day's services. The prescriptions in this
passage appear supplementary to the former statement in Leviticus.
12-34. on the fifteenth day--was to be held the feast of booths or
tabernacles. (See Le 23:34, 35). The feast was to last seven days, the
first and last of which were to be kept as Sabbaths, and a particular
offering was prescribed for each day, the details of which are given
with a minuteness suited to the infant state of the church. Two things
are deserving of notice: First, that this feast was distinguished by a
greater amount and variety of sacrifices than any other--partly
because, occurring at the end of the year, it might be intended to
supply any past deficiencies--partly because, being immediately after
the ingathering of the fruits, it ought to be a liberal
acknowledgment--and partly, perhaps, because God consulted the weakness
of mankind, who naturally grow weary both of the charge and labor of
such services when they are long-continued, and made them every day
less toilsome and expensive [Patrick]. Secondly, it will be remarked
that the sacrifices varied in a progressive ratio of decrease every
day.
18. after the manner--according to the ritual order appointed by divine
authority--that for meat offerings (Nu 29:3-10), and drink offerings
(Nu 28:7, 14).
35-40. On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly--The feast of
tabernacles was brought to a close on the eighth day, which was the
great day (Joh 7:37). Besides the common routine sacrifices, there were
special offerings appointed for that day though these were fewer than
on any of the preceding days; and there were also, as was natural on
that occasion when vast multitudes were convened for a solemn religious
purpose, many spontaneous gifts and services, so that there was full
scope for the exercise of a devout spirit in the people, both for their
obedience to the statutory offerings, and by the presentation of those
which were made by free will or in consequence of vows.
39. These things ye shall do unto the Lord in your set feasts--From the
statements made in this and the preceding chapter, it appears that the
yearly offerings made to the altar at the public expense, without
taking into account a vast number of voluntary vow and trespass
offerings, were calculated at the following amount:--goats, fifteen;
kids, twenty-one; rams, seventy-two; bullocks, one hundred thirty-two;
lambs, 1,101; sum-total of animals sacrificed at public cost, 1,241.
This, of course, is exclusive of the prodigious addition of lambs slain
at the passover, which in later times, according to Josephus, amounted
in a single year to the immense number of 255,600.
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CHAPTER 30
Nu 30:1-16. Vows Are Not to Be Broken.
1. This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded--The subject of this
chapter relates to vowing, which seems to have been an ancient usage,
allowed by the law to remain, and by which some people declared their
intention of offering some gift on the altar or abstaining from
particular articles of meat or drink, of observing a private fast, or
doing something to the honor or in the service of God, over and above
what was authoritatively required. In Nu 29:39, mention was made of
"vows and freewill offerings," and it is probable, from the explanatory
nature of the rules laid down in this chapter, that these were given
for the removal of doubts and difficulties which conscientious persons
had felt about their obligation to perform their vows in certain
circumstances that had arisen.
2. If a man vow a vow unto the Lord--A mere secret purpose of the mind
was not enough to constitute a vow; it had to be actually expressed in
words; and though a purely voluntary act, yet when once the vow was
made, the performance of it, like that of every other promise, became
an indispensable duty--all the more because, referring to a sacred
thing, it could not be neglected without the guilt of prevarication and
unfaithfulness to God.
he shall not break his word--literally, "profane his word"--render it
vain and contemptible (Ps 55:20; 89:34). But as it would frequently
happen that parties would vow to do things which were neither good in
themselves nor in their power to perform, the law ordained that their
natural superiors should have the right of judging as to the propriety
of those vows, with discretionary power to sanction or interdict their
fulfilment. Parents were to determine in the case of their children,
and husbands in that of their wives--being, however, allowed only a day
for deliberation after the matter became known to them; and their
judgment, if unfavorable, released the devotee from all obligation [Nu
30:3-8].
3. If a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord, and bind herself by a bond,
being in her father's house in her youth--Girls only are specified; but
minors of the other sex, who resided under the parental roof, were
included, according to Jewish writers, who also consider the name
"father" as comprehending all guardians of youth. We are also told that
the age at which young people were deemed capable of vowing was
thirteen for boys and twelve for girls. The judgment of a father or
guardian on the vow of any under his charge might be given either by an
expressed approval or by silence, which was to be construed as
approval. But in the case of a husband who, after silence from day to
day, should ultimately disapprove or hinder his wife's vow, the sin of
non-performance was to be imputed to him and not to her [Nu 30:15].
9. every vow of a widow--In the case of a married woman, who, in the
event of a separation from her husband, or of his death, returned, as
was not uncommon, to her father's house, a doubt might have been
entertained whether she was not, as before, subject to paternal
jurisdiction and obliged to act with the paternal consent. The law
ordained that the vow was binding if it had been made in her husband's
lifetime, and he, on being made aware of it, had not interposed his
veto [Nu 30:10, 11]; as, for instance, she might have vowed, when not a
widow, that she would assign a portion of her income to pious and
charitable uses, of which she might repent when actually a widow; but
by this statute she was required to fulfil the obligation, provided her
circumstances enabled her to redeem the pledge. The rules laid down
must have been exceedingly useful for the prevention or cancelling of
rash vows, as well as for giving a proper sanction to such as were
legitimate in their nature, and made in a devout, reflecting spirit.
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CHAPTER 31
Nu 31:1-54. The Midianites Spoiled and Balaam Slain.
1, 2. the Lord spake unto Moses, Avenge the children of Israel of the
Midianites--a semi-nomad people, descended from Abraham and Keturah,
occupying a tract of country east and southeast of Moab, which lay on
the eastern coast of the Dead Sea. They seem to have been the principal
instigators of the infamous scheme of seduction, planned to entrap the
Israelites into the double crime of idolatry and licentiousness [Nu
25:1-3, 17, 18] by which, it was hoped, the Lord would withdraw from
that people the benefit of His protection and favor. Moreover, the
Midianites had rendered themselves particularly obnoxious by entering
into a hostile league with the Amorites (Jos 13:21). The Moabites were
at this time spared in consideration of Lot (De 2:9) and because the
measure of their iniquities was not yet full. God spoke of avenging
"the children of Israel" [Nu 31:2]; Moses spoke of avenging the Lord
[Nu 31:3], as dishonor had been done to God and an injury inflicted on
His people. The interests were identical. God and His people have the
same cause, the same friends, and the same assailants. This, in fact,
was a religious war, undertaken by the express command of God against
idolaters, who had seduced the Israelites to practise their
abominations.
3. Arm some of yourselves--This order was issued but a short time
before the death of Moses. The announcement to him of that approaching
event [Nu 31:2] seems to have accelerated, rather than retarded, his
warlike preparations.
5. there were delivered--that is, drafted, chosen, an equal amount from
each tribe, to prevent the outbreak of mutual jealousy or strife.
Considering the numerical force of the enemy, this was a small quota to
furnish. But the design was to exercise their faith and animate them to
the approaching invasion of Canaan.
6. Moses sent ... Eleazar the priest, to the war--Although it is not
expressly mentioned, it is highly probable that Joshua was the general
who conducted this war. The presence of the priest, who was always with
the army (De 20:2), was necessary to preside over the Levites, who
accompanied the expedition, and to inflame the courage of the
combatants by his sacred services and counsels.
holy instruments--As neither the ark nor the Urim and Thummim were
carried to the battlefield till a later period in the history of
Israel, the "holy instruments" must mean the "trumpets" (Nu 10:9). And
this view is agreeable to the text, by simply changing "and" into
"even," as the Hebrew particle is frequently rendered.
7. they slew all the males--This was in accordance with a divine order
in all such cases (De 20:13). But the destruction appears to have been
only partial--limited to those who were in the neighborhood of the
Hebrew camp and who had been accomplices in the villainous plot of
Baal-peor (Nu 25:1-3), while a large portion of the Midianites were
absent on their pastoral wanderings or had saved themselves by flight.
(Compare Jud 6:1).
8. the kings of Midian--so called, because each was possessed of
absolute power within his own city or district; called also dukes or
princes of Sihon (Jos 13:21), having been probably subject to that
Amorite ruler, as it is not uncommon in the East to find a number of
governors or pachas tributary to one great king.
Zur--father of Cozbi (Nu 25:15).
Balaam also ... they slew with the sword--This unprincipled man, on his
dismissal from Balak, set out for his home in Mesopotamia (Nu 24:25).
But, either diverging from his way to tamper with the Midianites, he
remained among them without proceeding farther, to incite them against
Israel and to watch the effects of his wicked counsel; or, learning in
his own country that the Israelites had fallen into the snare which he
had laid and which he doubted not would lead to their ruin, he had,
under the impulse of insatiable greed, returned to demand his reward
from the Midianites. He was an object of merited vengeance. In the
immense slaughter of the Midianitish people--in the capture of their
women, children, and property and in the destruction of all their
places of refuge--the severity of a righteous God fell heavily on that
base and corrupt race. But, more than all others, Balaam deserved and
got the just reward of his deeds. His conduct had been atrociously
sinful, considering the knowledge he possessed, and the revelations he
had received, of the will of God. For any one in his circumstances to
attempt defeating the prophecies he had himself been the organ of
uttering, and plotting to deprive the chosen people of the divine favor
and protection, was an act of desperate wickedness, which no language
can adequately characterize.
13. Moses, and Eleazar the priest, ... went forth to meet them without
the camp--partly as a token of respect and congratulation on their
victory, partly to see how they had executed the Lord's commands, and
partly to prevent the defilement of the camp by the entrance of
warriors stained with blood.
14-18. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host--The
displeasure of the great leader, though it appears the ebullition of a
fierce and sanguinary temper, arose in reality from a pious and
enlightened regard to the best interests of Israel. No order had been
given for the slaughter of the women, and in ancient war they were
commonly reserved for slaves. By their antecedent conduct, however, the
Midianitish women had forfeited all claims to mild or merciful
treatment; and the sacred character, the avowed object of the war (Nu
31:2, 3), made their slaughter necessary without any special order. But
why "kill every male among the little ones"? It was designed to be a
war of extermination, such as God Himself had ordered against the
people of Canaan, whom the Midianites equalled in the enormity of their
wickedness.
19-24. abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any
person ... purify both yourselves and your captives--Though the
Israelites had taken the field in obedience to the command of God, they
had become defiled by contact with the dead. A process of purification
was to be undergone, as the law required (Le 15:13; Nu 19:9-12), and
this purifying ceremony was extended to dress, houses, tents, to
everything on which a dead body had lain, which had been touched by the
blood-stained hands of the Israelitish warriors, or which had been the
property of idolaters. This became a standing ordinance in all time
coming (Le 6:28; 11:33; 15:12).
25-39. Take the sum of the prey that was taken--that is, of the
captives and cattle, which, having been first lumped together according
to ancient usage (Ex 15:9; Jud 5:30), were divided into two equal
parts: the one to the people at large, who had sustained a common
injury from the Midianites and who were all liable to serve: and the
other portion to the combatants, who, having encountered the labors and
perils of war, justly received the largest share. From both parts,
however, a certain deduction was taken for the sanctuary, as a thank
offering to God for preservation and for victory. The soldiers had
greatly the advantage in the distribution; for a five-hundredth part
only of their half went to the priest, while a fiftieth part of the
congregation's half was given to the Levites.
32-47. the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had
caught--Some of the captives having been killed (Nu 31:17) and part of
the cattle taken for the support of the army, the total amount of the
booty remaining was in the following proportions:
Prey Total
Amount Half to
Soldiers Deducted
to God Half to
Congregation Deducted
to Levites
Sheep 675,000 337,500 675 337,500 6,750
Beeves 72,000 36,000 72 36,000 720
Asses 61,000 30,500 61 30,500 610
Persons 32,000 16,000 32 16,000 320
48-54. officers ... said ... there lacketh not one man of us--A victory
so signal, and the glory of which was untarnished by the loss of a
single Israelitish soldier, was an astonishing miracle. So clearly
betokening the direct interposition of Heaven, it might well awaken the
liveliest feelings of grateful acknowledgment to God (Ps 44:2, 3). The
oblation they brought for the Lord "was partly an atonement" or
reparation for their error (Nu 31:14-16), for it could not possess any
expiatory virtue, and partly a tribute of gratitude for the stupendous
service rendered them. It consisted of the "spoil," which, being the
acquisition of individual valor, was not divided like the "prey," or
livestock, each soldier retaining it in lieu of pay; it was offered by
the "captains" alone, whose pious feelings were evinced by the
dedication of the spoil which fell to their share. There were jewels to
the amount of 16,750 shekels, equal to £87,869 16s. 5d. sterling.
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CHAPTER 32
Nu 32:1-42. The Reubenites and Gadites Ask for an Inheritance.
1-5. the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead--A complete conquest had
been made of the country east of the Jordan, comprising "the land of
Jazer," which formed the southern district between the Arnon and Jabbok
and "the land of Gilead," the middle region between the Jabbok and
Jarmouk, or Hieromax, including Bashan, which lay on the north of that
river. The whole of this region is now called the Belka. It has always
been famous for its rich and extensive pastures, and it is still the
favorite resort of the Bedouin shepherds, who frequently contend for
securing to their immense flocks the benefit of its luxuriant
vegetation. In the camp of ancient Israel, Reuben and Gad were
pre-eminently pastoral; and as these two tribes, being placed under the
same standard, had frequent opportunities of conversing and arranging
about their common concerns, they united in preferring a request that
the trans-jordanic region, so well suited to the habits of a pastoral
people, might be assigned to them.
6-19. Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of
Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here--Their
language was ambiguous; and Moses, suspicious that this proposal was an
act of unbelief, a scheme of self-policy and indolence to escape the
perils of warfare and live in ease and safety, addressed to them a
reproachful and passionate remonstrance. Whether they had really
meditated such a withdrawal from all share in the war of invasion, or
the effect of their leader's expostulation was to drive them from their
original purpose, they now, in answer to his impressive appeal,
declared it to be their sincere intention to co-operate with their
brethren; but, if so, they ought to have been more explicit at first.
16. they came near--The narrative gives a picturesque description of
this scene. The suppliants had shrunk back, dreading from the
undisguised emotions of their leader that their request would be
refused. But, perceiving, from the tenor of his discourse, that his
objection was grounded only on the supposition that they would not
cross the Jordan to assist their brethren, they became emboldened to
approach him with assurances of their goodwill.
We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little
ones--that is, rebuild, repair. It would have been impossible within
two months to found new cities, or even to reconstruct those which had
been razed to the ground. Those cities of the Amorites were not
absolutely demolished, and they probably consisted only of mud-built,
or dry-stone walls.
17. and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the
inhabitants of the land--There was good policy in leaving a sufficient
force to protect the conquered region lest the enemy should attempt
reprisals; and as only forty thousand of the Reubenites and the
Gadites, and a half of Manasseh, passed over the Jordan (Jos 4:13),
there were left for the security of the new possessions 70,580 men,
besides women and children under twenty years (compare Nu 26:7, 18,
34).
We ourselves will go ready armed--that is, all of us in a collective
body, or as many as may be deemed necessary, while the rest of our
number shall remain at home to provide for the sustenance and secure
the protection of our families and flocks. (See on Jos 4:12).
20-33. Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing--with sincerity
and zeal.
go before the Lord to war--The phrase was used in allusion to the order
of march in which the tribes of Reuben and Gad immediately preceded the
ark (see on Nu 2:10-31), or to the passage over the Jordan, in which
the ark stood in mid-channel, while all the tribes marched by in
succession (Jos 3:4), of course including those of Reuben and Gad, so
that, literally, they passed over before the Lord and before the rest
of Israel (Jos 4:13). Perhaps, however, the phrase is used merely in a
general sense to denote their marching on an expedition, the purpose of
which was blessed with the presence, and destined to promote the glory,
of God. The displeasure which Moses had felt on the first mention of
their proposal had disappeared on the strength of their solemn
assurances. But a lurking suspicion of their motives seems still to
have been lingering in his mind--he continued to speak to them in an
admonitory strain; and he concluded by warning them that in case of
their failing to redeem their pledge, the judgments of an offended God
would assuredly fall upon them. This emphatic caution against such an
eventuality throws a strong doubt on the honesty of their first
intentions; and yet, whether through the opposing attitude or the
strong invectives of Moses they had been brought to a better state of
mind, their final reply showed that now all was right.
28-32. concerning them Moses commanded--The arrangement itself, as well
as the express terms on which he assented to it, was announced by the
leader to the public authorities. The pastoral country the two tribes
had desired was to be granted them on condition that they would lend
their aid to their brethren in the approaching invasion of Canaan. If
they refused or failed to perform their promise, those possessions
should be forfeited, and they themselves compelled to go across the
Jordan and fight for a settlement like the rest of their brethren.
33. half the tribe of Manasseh--It is nowhere explained in the record
how they were incorporated with the two tribes, or what broke this
great tribe into two parts, of which one was left to follow the
fortunes of its brethren in the settled life of the western hills,
while the other was allowed to wander as a nomadic tribe over the
pasture lands of Gilead and Bashan. They are not mentioned as
accompanying Reuben and Gad in their application to Moses [Nu 32:1];
neither were they included in his first directions (Nu 32:25); but as
they also were a people addicted to pastoral pursuits and possessed as
immense flocks as the other two, Moses invited the half of them to
remain, in consequence, probably, of finding that this region was more
than sufficient for the pastoral wants of the others, and he may have
given them the preference, as some have conjectured, for their valorous
conduct in the contests with the Amorites (compare Nu 32:39, with Jos
17:1).
34-36. And the children of Gad built--(See on Nu 32:16).
Dibon--identified with Dheban, now in ruins, an hour's distance from
the Arnon (Mojeb).
Ataroth (Hebrew, "crowns")--There are several towns so called in
Scripture, but this one in the tribe of Gad has not been identified.
Aroer--now Arair, standing on a precipice on the north bank of the
Arnon.
35-38. Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, &c.--Jaazer, near a famed fountain,
Ain Hazier, the waters of which flow into Wady Schaib, about fifteen
miles from Hesbon. Beth-nimrah, now Nimrin; Heshbon, now Hesban;
Elealeh (Hebrew, "the high"), now Elaal; Kirjathaim (Hebrew, "the
double city"); Nebo, now Neba, near the mountain of that name;
Baal-meon, now Myoun, in ruins, where was a temple of Baal (Jos 13:17;
Jer 48:23); Shibmah, or Shebam (Nu 32:3), near Heshbon, famous for
vines (Isa 16:9, 10; Jer 48:32).
38. (their names being changed)--either because it was the general
custom of conquerors to do so; or, rather, because from the prohibition
to mention the names of other gods (Ex 23:13), as Nebo and Baal were,
it was expedient on the first settlement of the Israelites to
obliterate all remembrance of those idols. (See Jos 13:17-20).
39. Gilead--now Jelud.
41. Havoth-jair--that is, "tent-villages." Jair, who captured them, was
a descendant of Manasseh on his mother's side (1Ch 1:21, 22).
42. Nobah--also a distinguished person connected with the eastern
branch of the tribe of Manasseh.
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CHAPTER 33
Nu 33:1-15. Two and Forty Journeys of the Israelites--from Egypt to
Sinai.
1. These are the journeys of the children of Israel--This chapter may
be said to form the winding up of the history of the travels of the
Israelites through the wilderness; for the three following chapters
relate to matters connected with the occupation and division of the
promised land. As several apparent discrepancies will be discovered on
comparing the records here given of the journeyings from Sinai with the
detailed accounts of the events narrated in the Book of Exodus and the
occasional notices of places that are found in that of Deuteronomy, it
is probable that this itinerary comprises a list of only the most
important stations in their journeys--those where they formed prolonged
encampments, and whence they dispersed their flocks and herds to
pasture on the adjacent plains till the surrounding herbage was
exhausted. The catalogue extends from their departure out of Egypt to
their arrival on the plains of Moab.
went forth ... with their armies--that is, a vast multitude marshalled
in separate companies, but regular order.
2. Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the
commandment of the Lord--The wisdom of this divine order is seen in the
importance of the end to which it was subservient--namely, partly to
establish the truth of the history, partly to preserve a memorial of
God's marvellous interpositions on behalf of Israel, and partly to
confirm their faith in the prospect of the difficult enterprise on
which they were entering, the invasion of Canaan.
3. Rameses--generally identified with Heroopoils, now the modern
Abu-Keisheid (see on Ex 12:37), which was probably the capital of
Goshen, and, by direction of Moses, the place of general rendezvous
previous to their departure.
4. upon their gods--used either according to Scripture phraseology to
denote their rulers (the first-born of the king and his princes) or the
idolatrous objects of Egyptian worship.
5. pitched in Succoth--that is, "booths"--a place of no note except as
a temporary halting place, at Birketel-Hadji, the Pilgrim's Pool
[Calmet].
6. Etham--edge, or border of all that part of Arabia-Petræa which lay
contiguous to Egypt and was known by the general name of Shur.
7. Pi-hahiroth, Baal-zephon ... Migdol--(See on Ex 14:2).
8. Marah--thought to be Ain Howarah, both from its position and the
time (three days) it would take them with their children and flocks to
march from the water of Ayun Musa to that spot.
9. Elim--supposed to be Wady Ghurundel (see on Ex 15:27).
10. encamped by the Red Sea--The road from Wady Ghurundel leads into
the interior, in consequence of a high continuous ridge which excludes
all view of the sea. At the mouth of Wady-et-Tayibeh, after about three
days' march, it opens again on a plain along the margin of the Red Sea.
The minute accuracy of the Scripture narrative, in corresponding so
exactly with the geographical features of this region, is remarkably
shown in describing the Israelites as proceeding by the only
practicable route that could be taken. This plain, where they encamped,
was the Desert of Sin (see on Ex 16:1).
12-14. Dophkah ... Alush ... Rephidim--These three stations, in the
great valleys of El Sheikh and Feiran, would be equivalent to four
days' journey for such a host. Rephidim (Ex 17:6) was in Horeb, the
burnt region--a generic name for a hot, mountainous country. [See on Ex
17:1.]
15. wilderness of Sinai--the Wady Er-Raheh.
Nu 33:16-56. From Sinai to Kadesh and Plains of Moab.
16-37. Kibroth-Hattaavah ("the graves of lust," see on Nu 11:34)--The
route, on breaking up the encampment at Sinai, led down Wady Sheikh;
then crossing Jebel-et-Tih, which intersected the peninsula, they
descended into Wady Zalaka, pitching successively at two brief, though
memorable, stations (De 9:22); then they encamped at Hazeroth
("unwalled villages"), supposed to be at Ain-Hadera (see on Nu 11:35).
Kadesh, or Kadesh-barnea, is supposed to be the great valley of the
Ghor, and the city Kadesh to have been situated on the border of this
valley [Burckhardt; Robinson]. But as there are no less than eighteen
stations inserted between Hazeroth and Kadesh, and only eleven days
were spent in performing that journey (De 1:2), it is evident that the
intermediate stations here recorded belong to another and totally
different visit to Kadesh. The first was when they left Sinai in the
second month (Nu 1:11; 13:20), and were in Kadesh in August (De 1:45),
and "abode many days" in it. Then, murmuring at the report of the
spies, they were commanded to return into the desert "by the way of the
Red Sea." The arrival at Kadesh, mentioned in this catalogue,
corresponds to the second sojourn at that place, being the first month,
or April (Nu 20:1). Between the two visits there intervened a period of
thirty-eight years, during which they wandered hither and thither
through all the region of El-Tih ("wanderings"), often returning to the
same spots as the pastoral necessities of their flocks required; and
there is the strongest reason for believing that the stations named
between Hazeroth (Nu 33:8) and Kadesh (Nu 33:36) belong to the long
interval of wandering. No certainty has yet been attained in
ascertaining the locale of many of these stations. There must have been
more than are recorded; for it is probable that those only are noted
where they remained some time, where the tabernacle was pitched, and
where Moses and the elders encamped, the people being scattered for
pasture in various directions. From Ezion-geber, for instance, which
stood at the head of the gulf of Akaba, to Kadesh, could not be much
less than the whole length of the great valley of the Ghor, a distance
of not less than a hundred miles, whatever might be the exact situation
of Kadesh; and, of course, there must have been several intervening
stations, though none are mentioned. The incidents and stages of the
rest of the journey to the plains of Moab are sufficiently explicit
from the preceding chapters.
18. Rithmah ("the place of the broom")--a station possibly in some wady
extending westward of the Ghor.
19. Rimmon-parez, or Rimmon--a city of Judah and Simeon (Jos 15:32);
Libnah, so called from its white poplars (Jos 10:29), or, as some
think, a white hill between Kadesh and Gaza (Jos 10:29); Rissah
(El-arish); mount Shapher (Cassius); Moseroth, adjacent to mount Hor,
in Wady Mousa. Ezion-geber, near Akaba, a seaport on the western shore
of the Elanitic gulf; Wilderness of Zin, on the east side of the
peninsula of Sinai; Punon, in the rocky ravines of mount Hor and famous
for the mines and quarries in its vicinity as well as for its fruit
trees, now Tafyle, on the border of Edom; Abarim, a ridge of rugged
hills northwest of the Arnon--the part called Nebo was one of its
highest peaks--opposite Jericho. (See on De 10:6).
50-53. ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before
you--not, however, by expulsion, but extermination (De 7:1).
and destroy all their pictures--obelisks for idolatrous worship (see on
Le 26:1).
and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their
high places--by metonymy for all their groves and altars, and materials
of worship on the tops of hills.
54. ye shall divide the land by lot--The particular locality of each
tribe was to be determined in this manner while a line was to be used
in measuring the proportion (Jos 18:10; Ps 16:5, 6).
55. But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from
before you--No associations were to be formed with the inhabitants;
otherwise, "if ye let remain, they will be pricks in your eyes, and
thorns in your sides"--that is, they would prove troublesome and
dangerous neighbors, enticing to idolatry, and consequently depriving
you of the divine favor and blessing. The neglect of the counsel
against union with the idolatrous inhabitants became fatal to them.
This earnest admonition given to the Israelites in their peculiar
circumstances conveys a salutary lesson to us to allow no lurking
habits of sin to remain in us. That spiritual enemy must be eradicated
from our nature; otherwise it will be ruinous to our present peace and
future salvation.
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CHAPTER 34
Nu 34:1-29. The Borders of the Land of Canaan.
2. this is the ... land of Canaan--The details given in this chapter
mark the general boundary of the inheritance of Israel west of the
Jordan. The Israelites never actually possessed all the territory
comprised within these boundaries, even when it was most extended by
the conquests of David and Solomon.
3-5. your south quarter--The line which bounded it on the south is the
most difficult to trace. According to the best biblical geographers,
the leading points here defined are as follows: The southwest angle of
the southern boundary should be where the wilderness of Zin touches the
border of Edom, so that the southern boundary should extend eastward
from the extremity of the Dead Sea, wind around the precipitous ridge
of Akrabbim ("scorpions"), thought to be the high and difficult Pass of
Safeh, which crosses the stream that flows from the south into the
Jordan--that is, the great valley of the Arabah, reaching from the Dead
to the Red Sea.
5. river of Egypt--the ancient brook Sihor, the Rhinocolura of the
Greeks, a little to the south of El-Arish, where this wady gently
descends towards the Mediterranean (Jos 13:3).
6. the western border--There is no uncertainty about this boundary, as
it is universally allowed to be the Mediterranean, which is called "the
great sea" in comparison with the small inland seas or lakes known to
the Hebrews.
7-9. north border--The principal difficulty in understanding the
description here arises from what our translators have called mount
Hor. The Hebrew words, however, Hor-ha-Hor, properly signify "the
mountain of the mountain," or "the high double mountain," which, from
the situation, can mean nothing else than the mountain Amana (So 4:8),
a member of the great Lebanon range (Jos 13:5).
8. entrance of Hamath--The northern plain between those mountain
ranges, now the valley of Balbeck (see on Nu 13:21).
Zedad--identified as the present Sudud (Eze 47:15).
9. Ziphron--("sweet odor").
Hazar-enan--("village of fountains"); but the places are unknown. "An
imaginary line from mount Cassius, on the coast along the northern base
of Lebanon to the entering into the Bekaa (Valley of Lebanon) at the
Kamosa Hermel," must be regarded as the frontier that is meant [Van De
Velde].
10-12. east border--This is very clearly defined. Shepham and Riblah,
which were in the valley of Lebanon, are mentioned as the boundary
line, which commenced a little higher than the sources of the Jordan.
Ain is supposed to be the source of that river; and thence the eastern
boundary extended along the Jordan, the sea of Chinnereth (Lake of
Tiberias), the Jordan; and again terminated at the Dead Sea. The line
being drawn on the east of the river and the seas included those waters
within the territory of the western tribes.
13-15. The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their
inheritance on this side Jordan--The conquered territories of Sihon and
Og, lying between the Arnon and mount Hermon, were allotted to
them--that of Reuben in the most southerly part, Gad north of it, and
the half Manasseh in the northernmost portion.
16-29. names of the men ... which shall divide the land--This
appointment by the Lord before the Jordan tended not only to animate
the Israelites faith in the certainty of the conquest, but to prevent
all subsequent dispute and discontent, which might have been dangerous
in presence of the natives. The nominees were ten princes for the nine
and a half tribes, one of them being selected from the western section
of Manasseh, and all subordinate to the great military and
ecclesiastical chiefs, Joshua and Eleazar. The names are mentioned in
the exact order in which the tribes obtained possession of the land,
and according to brotherly connection.
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CHAPTER 35
Nu 35:1-5. Eight and Forty Cities Given to the Levites.
2. give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities
to dwell in--As the Levites were to have no territorial domain
allocated to them like the other tribes on the conquest of Canaan, they
were to be distributed throughout the land in certain cities
appropriated to their use; and these cities were to be surrounded by
extensive suburbs. There is an apparent discrepancy between Nu 35:4 and
Nu 35:5, with regard to the extent of these suburbs; but the statements
in the two verses refer to totally different things--the one to the
extent of the suburbs from the walls of the city, the other to the
space of two thousand cubits from their extremity. In point of fact,
there was an extent of ground, amounting to three thousand cubits,
measured from the wall of the city. One thousand were most probably
occupied with outhouses for the accommodation of shepherds and other
servants, with gardens, vineyards, or oliveyards. And these which were
portioned out to different families (1Ch 6:60) might be sold by one
Levite to another, but not to any individual of another tribe (Jer
32:7). The other two thousand cubits remained a common for the
pasturing of cattle (Le 25:34) and, considering their number, that
space would be fully required.
Nu 35:6-8. Cities of Refuge.
6. there shall be six cities for refuge, which ye shall appoint for the
manslayer--The establishment of those privileged sanctuaries among the
cities of the Levites is probably traceable to the idea, that they
would be the most suitable and impartial judges--that their presence
and counsels might calm or restrain the stormy passions of the blood
avenger--and that, from their being invested with the sacred character,
they might be types of Christ, in whom sinners find a refuge from the
destroyer (see De 4:43; Jos 20:8).
8. the cities which ye shall give shall be of the possession of the
children of Israel--The burden of furnishing those places for the
residence and support of the Levitical order was to fall in equitable
proportions upon the different tribes (see Nu 33:54; Jos 20:7).
Nu 35:9-34. The Blood Avenger.
11. that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at
unawares--The practice of Goelism, that is, of the nearest relation of
an individual who was killed being bound to demand satisfaction from
the author of his death, existed from a very remote antiquity (Ge 4:14;
27:45). It seems to have been an established usage in the age of Moses;
and although in a rude and imperfect state of society, it is a natural
and intelligible principle of criminal jurisprudence, it is liable to
many great abuses; the chief of the evils inseparable from it is that
the kinsman, who is bound in duty and honor to execute justice, will
often be precipitate--little disposed, in the heat of passion or under
the impulse of revenge, to examine into the circumstances of the case,
to discriminate between the premeditated purpose of the assassin and
the misfortune of the unintentional homicide. Moreover, it had a
tendency, not only to foster a vindictive spirit, but in case of the
Goel being unsuccessful in finding his victim, to transmit animosities
and feuds against his descendants from one generation to another. This
is exemplified among the Arabs in the present day. Should an Arab of
one tribe happen to kill one of another tribe, there is "blood" between
the tribes, and the stain can only be wiped out by the death of some
individual of the tribe with which the offense originated. Sometimes
the penalty is commuted by the payment of a stipulated number of sheep
or camels. But such an equivalent, though offered, is as often refused,
and blood has to be repaid only by blood. This practice of Goelism
obtained among the Hebrews to such an extent that it was not perhaps
expedient to abolish it; and Moses, while sanctioning its continuance,
was directed, by divine authority, to make some special regulations,
which tended both to prevent the unhappy consequences of sudden and
personal vengeance, and, at the same time, to afford an accused person
time and means of proving his innocence. This was the humane and
equitable end contemplated in the institution of cities of refuge.
There were to be six of these legalized asyla, three on the east of
Jordan, both because the territory there was equal in length, though
not in breadth, to Canaan, and because it might be more convenient for
some to take refuge across the border. They were appointed for the
benefit, not of the native Israelites only, but of all resident
strangers.
16-21. If he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die,
&c.--Various cases are here enumerated in which the Goel or avenger was
at liberty to take the life of the murderer; and every one of them
proves a premeditated purpose.
22-28. But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon
him any thing without laying of wait, &c.--Under the excitement of a
sudden provocation, or violent passion, an injury might be inflicted
issuing in death; and for a person who had thus undesignedly committed
slaughter, the Levitical cities offered the benefit of full protection.
Once having reached the nearest, for one or other of them was within a
day's journey of all parts of the land, he was secure. But he had to
"abide in it." His confinement within its walls was a wise and salutary
rule, designed to show the sanctity of human blood in God's sight, as
well as to protect the manslayer himself, whose presence and
intercourse in society might have provoked the passions of the
deceased's relatives. But the period of his release from this
confinement was not until the death of the high priest. That was a
season of public affliction, when private sorrows were sunk or
overlooked under a sense of the national calamity, and when the death
of so eminent a servant of God naturally led all to serious
consideration about their own mortality. The moment, however, that the
refugee broke through the restraints of his confinement and ventured
beyond the precincts of the asylum, he forfeited the privilege, and, if
he was discovered by his pursuer, he might be slain with impunity.
29-34. these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you
throughout your generations--The law of the blood-avenger, as thus
established by divine authority, was a vast improvement on the ancient
practice of Goelism. By the appointment of cities of refuge, the
manslayer was saved, in the meantime, from the blind and impetuous fury
of vindictive relatives; but he might be tried by the local court, and,
if proved guilty on sufficient evidence, condemned and punished as a
murderer, without the possibility of deliverance by any pecuniary
satisfaction. The enactment of Moses, which was an adaptation to the
character and usages of the Hebrew people, secured the double advantage
of promoting the ends both of humanity and of justice.
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CHAPTER 36
Nu 36:1-13. The Inconvenience of the Inheritance.
1. the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead--Being
the tribal governors in Manasseh, they consulted Moses on a case that
affected the public honor and interests of their tribe. It related once
more to the daughters of Zelophehad. Formerly they had applied, at
their own instance, to be recognized, for want of male heirs in their
family, as entitled to inherit their father's property [Nu 27:1-11];
now the application was made on behalf of the tribe to which they
belonged--that steps might be taken to prevent the alienation of their
patrimony by their alliance with husbands of another tribe. The
unrestricted marriages of daughters in such circumstances threatened
seriously to affect the tenure of land in Israel, as their inheritance
would go to their children, who, by the father's side, would belong to
another tribe, and thus lead, through a complication of interests and
the confusion of families, to an evil for which even the Jubilee could
not afford a remedy. [See on Le 25:13].
5-12. Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of
the Lord--The plea appeared just and reasonable; and, accordingly an
enactment was made by which the daughters of Zelophehad, while left to
the free choice of their husbands, were restricted to marry not only
within their own tribe, but within the family of their father's
tribe--that is, one of their cousins. This restriction, however, was
imposed only on those who were heiresses. The law was not applicable to
daughters in different circumstances (1Ch 23:22)--for they might marry
into another tribe; but if they did so, they were liable to forfeit
their patrimonial inheritance, which, on the death of their father or
brothers, went to the nearest of the family kinsmen. Here was an
instance of progressive legislation (see also Ex 18:27) in Israel, the
enactments made being suggested by circumstances. But it is deserving
of special notice that those additions to, or modifications of, the law
were confined to civil affairs; while the slightest change was
inadmissible in the laws relating to worship or the maintenance of
religion.
13. These are the commandments and the judgments, which the Lord
commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the
plains of Moab--The Israelitish encampment was on an extensive plateau
north of the Arnon, which, though wrested from the Moabites by Sihon
and Og, still retained the name of its original possessors. The
particular site, as indicated by the words "Jordan near Jericho," is
now called El-Koura--a large plain lying not far from Nebo, between the
Arnon and a small tributary stream, the Wael [Burckhardt]. It was a
desert plain on the eastern bank, and marked only by groves of the
wild, thorny acacia tree.
__________________________________________________________________
THE FIFTH BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED
DEUTERONOMY.
Commentary by Robert Jamieson
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CHAPTER 1
De 1:1-46. Moses' Speech at the End of the Fortieth Year.
1. These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel--The mental
condition of the people generally in that infantine age of the Church,
and the greater number of them being of young or tender years, rendered
it expedient to repeat the laws and counsels which God had given.
Accordingly, to furnish a recapitulation of the leading branches of
their faith and duty was among the last public services which Moses
rendered to Israel. The scene of their delivery was on the plains of
Moab where the encampment was pitched
on this side Jordan--or, as the Hebrew word may be rendered "on the
bank of the Jordan."
in the wilderness, in the plain--the Arabah, a desert plain, or steppe,
extended the whole way from the Red Sea north to the Sea of Tiberias.
While the high tablelands of Moab were "cultivated fields," the Jordan
valley, at the foot of the mountains where Israel was encamped, was a
part of the great desert plain, little more inviting than the desert of
Arabia. The locale is indicated by the names of the most prominent
places around it. Some of these places are unknown to us. The Hebrew
word, Suph, "red" (for "sea," which our translators have inserted, is
not in the original, and Moses was now farther from the Red Sea than
ever), probably meant a place noted for its reeds (Nu 21:14).
Tophel--identified as Tafyle or Tafeilah, lying between Bozrah and
Kerak.
Hazeroth--is a different place from that at which the Israelites
encamped after leaving "the desert of Sinai."
2. There are eleven days' journey from Horeb--Distances are computed in
the East still by the hours or days occupiesd by the journey. A day's
journey on foot is about twenty miles--on camels, at the rate of three
miles an hour, thirty miles--and by caravans, about twenty-five miles.
But the Israelites, with children and flocks, would move at a slow
rate. The length of the Ghor from Ezion-geber to Kadesh is a hundred
miles. The days here mentioned were not necessarily successive days
[Robinson], for the journey can be made in a much shorter period. But
this mention of the time was made to show that the great number of
years spent in travelling from Horeb to the plain of Moab was not owing
to the length of the way, but to a very different cause; namely,
banishment for their apostasy and frequent rebellions.
mount Seir--the mountainous country of Edom.
3-8. in the fortieth year ... Moses spake unto the children of Israel,
&c.--This impressive discourse, in which Moses reviewed all that God
had done for His people, was delivered about a month before his death,
and after peace and tranquillity had been restored by the complete
conquest of Sihon and Og.
4. Ashtaroth--the royal residence of Og, so called from Astarte ("the
moon"), the tutelary goddess of the Syrians. Og was slain at
Edrei--now Edhra, the ruins of which are fourteen miles in
circumference [Burckhardt]; its general breadth is about two leagues.
5. On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare
this law--that is, explain this law. He follows the same method here
that he elsewhere observes; namely, that of first enumerating the
marvellous doings of God in behalf of His people, and reminding them
what an unworthy requital they had made for all His kindness--then he
rehearses the law and its various precepts.
6. The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long
enough in this mount--Horeb was the general name of a mountainous
district; literally, "the parched" or "burnt region," whereas Sinai was
the name appropriated to a particular peak [see on Ex 19:2]. About a
year had been spent among the recesses of that wild solitude, in laying
the foundation, under the immediate direction of God, of a new and
peculiar community, as to its social, political, and, above all,
religious character; and when this purpose had been accomplished, they
were ordered to break up their encampment in Horeb. The command given
them was to march straight to Canaan, and possess it [De 1:7].
7. the mount of the Amorites--the hilly tract lying next to
Kadesh-barnea in the south of Canaan.
to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon--that is, Phoenicia,
the country of Sidon, and the coast of the Mediterranean--from the
Philistines to Lebanon. The name "Canaanite" is often used synonymously
with that of "Phoenician."
8. I have set the land before you--literally, "before your faces"--it
is accessible; there is no impediment to your occupation. The order of
the journey as indicated by the places mentioned would have led to a
course of invasion, the opposite of what was eventually followed;
namely, from the seacoast eastward--instead of from the Jordan westward
(see on Nu 20:1).
9-18. I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you
myself alone--a little before their arrival in Horeb. Moses addresses
that new generation as the representatives of their fathers, in whose
sight and hearing all the transactions he recounts took place. A
reference is here made to the suggestion of Jethro (Ex 18:18). In
noticing his practical adoption of a plan by which the administration
of justice was committed to a select number of subordinate officers,
Moses, by a beautiful allusion to the patriarchal blessing, ascribed
the necessity of that memorable change in the government to the vast
increase of the population.
10. ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude--This was
neither an Oriental hyperbole nor a mere empty boast. Abraham was told
(Ge 15:5, 6) to look to the stars, and though they "appear"
innumerable, yet those seen by the naked eye amount, in reality, to no
more than three thousand ten in both hemispheres. The Israelites
already far exceeded that number, being at the last census above six
hundred thousand [Nu 26:51]. It was a seasonable memento, calculated to
animate their faith in the accomplishment of other parts of the divine
promise.
19-21. we went through all that great and terrible wilderness--of
Paran, which included the desert and mountainous space lying between
the wilderness of Shur westward, or towards Egypt and mount Seir, or
the land of Edom eastwards; between the land of Canaan northwards, and
the Red Sea southwards; and thus it appears to have comprehended really
the wilderness of Sin and Sinai [Fisk]. It is called by the Arabs El
Tih, "the wandering." It is a dreary waste of rock and of calcareous
soil covered with black sharp flints; all travellers, from a feeling of
its complete isolation from the world, describe it as a great and
terrible wilderness.
22-33. ye came ... and said, We will send men before us, and they shall
search us out the land--The proposal to despatch spies emanated from
the people through unbelief; but Moses, believing them sincere, gave
his cordial assent to this measure, and God on being consulted
permitted them to follow the suggestion (see on Nu 13:1). The issue
proved disastrous to them, only through their own sin and folly.
28. the cities are great, and walled up to heaven--an Oriental
metaphor, meaning very high. The Arab marauders roam about on
horseback, and hence the walls of St. Catherine's monastery on Sinai
are so lofty that travellers are drawn up by a pulley in a basket.
Anakims--(See on Nu 13:33). The honest and uncompromising language of
Moses, in reminding the Israelites of their perverse conduct and
outrageous rebellion at the report of the treacherous and fainthearted
scouts, affords a strong evidence of the truth of this history as well
as of the divine authority of his mission. There was great reason for
his dwelling on this dark passage in their history, as it was their
unbelief that excluded them from the privilege of entering the promised
land (Heb 3:19); and that unbelief was a marvellous exhibition of human
perversity, considering the miracles which God had wrought in their
favor, especially in the daily manifestations they had of His presence
among them as their leader and protector.
34-36. the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth--In
consequence of this aggravated offense (unbelief followed by open
rebellion), the Israelites were doomed, in the righteous judgment of
God, to a life of wandering in that dreary wilderness till the whole
adult generation had disappeared by death. The only exceptions
mentioned are Caleb and Joshua, who was to be Moses' successor.
37. Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes--This statement
seems to indicate that it was on this occasion Moses was condemned to
share the fate of the people. But we know that it was several years
afterwards that Moses betrayed an unhappy spirit of distrust at the
waters of strife (Ps 106:32, 33). This verse must be considered
therefore as a parenthesis.
39. your children ... who in that day had no knowledge between good and
evil--All ancient versions read "to-day" instead of "that day"; and the
sense is--"your children who now know," or "who know not as yet good or
evil." As the children had not been partakers of the sinful outbreak,
they were spared to obtain the privilege which their unbelieving
parents had forfeited. God's ways are not as man's ways [Isa 55:8, 9].
40-45. turn you, and take your journey into the ... Red Sea--This
command they disregarded, and, determined to force an onward passage in
spite of the earnest remonstrances of Moses, they attempted to cross
the heights then occupied by the combined forces of the Amorites and
Amalekites (compare Nu 14:43), but were repulsed with great loss.
People often experience distress even while in the way of duty. But how
different their condition who suffer in situations where God is with
them from the feelings of those who are conscious that they are in a
position directly opposed to the divine will! The Israelites were
grieved when they found themselves involved in difficulties and perils;
but their sorrow arose not from a sense of the guilt so much as the sad
effects of their perverse conduct; and "though they wept," they were
not true penitents. So the Lord would not hearken to their voice, nor
give ear unto them.
46. So ye abode at Kadesh many days--That place had been the site of
their encampment during the absence of the spies, which lasted forty
days, and it is supposed from this verse that they prolonged their stay
there after their defeat for a similar period.
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CHAPTER 2
De 2:1-37. The Story Is Continued.
1. Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way
of the Red Sea--After their unsuccessful attack upon the Canaanites,
the Israelites broke up their encampment at Kadesh, and journeying
southward over the west desert of Tih as well as through the great
valley of the Ghor and Arabah, they extended their removals as far as
the gulf of Akaba.
we compassed mount Seir many days--In these few words Moses comprised
the whole of that wandering nomadic life through which they passed
during thirty-eight years, shifting from place to place, and regulating
their stations by the prospect of pasturage and water. Within the
interval they went northward a second time to Kadesh, but being refused
a passage through Edom and opposed by the Canaanites and Amalekites,
they again had no alternative but to traverse once more the great
Arabah southwards to the Red Sea, where turning to the left and
crossing the long, lofty mountain chain to the eastward of Ezion-geber
(Nu 21:4, 5), they issued into the great and elevated plains, which are
still traversed by the Syrian pilgrims in their way to Mecca. They
appear to have followed northward nearly the same route, which is now
taken by the Syrian hadji, along the western skirts of this great
desert, near the mountains of Edom [Robinson]. It was on entering these
plains they received the command, "Ye have compassed this mountain
(this hilly tract, now Jebel Shera) long enough, turn ye northward" [De
2:3].
4. the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir ... shall be afraid of
you--The same people who had haughtily repelled the approach of the
Israelites from the western frontier were alarmed now that they had
come round upon the weak side of their country.
5-7. Meddle not with them--that is, "which dwell in Seir" (De 2:4)--for
there was another branch of Esau's posterity, namely, the Amalekites,
who were to be fought against and destroyed (Ge 36:12; Ex 17:14; De
25:17). But the people of Edom were not to be injured, either in their
persons or property. And although the approach of so vast a nomadic
horde as the Israelites naturally created apprehension, they were to
take no advantage of the prevailing terror to compel the Edomites to
accept whatever terms they imposed. They were merely to pass "through"
or along their border, and to buy meat and water of them for money (De
2:6). The people, kinder than their king, did sell them bread, meat,
fruits, and water in their passage along their border (De 2:29), in the
same manner as the Syrian caravan of Mecca is now supplied by the
people of the same mountains, who meet the pilgrims as at a fair or
market on the hadji route [Robinson]. Although the Israelites still
enjoyed a daily supply of the manna, there was no prohibition against
their eating other food when opportunity afforded. Only they were not
to cherish an inordinate desire for it. Water is a scarce commodity and
is often paid for by travellers in those parts. It was the more
incumbent on the Israelites to do so, as, by the blessing of God, they
possessed plenty of means to purchase, and the long-continued
experience of the extraordinary goodness of God to them, should inspire
such confidence in Him as would suppress the smallest thought of
resorting to fraud or violence in supplying their wants.
8-18. we passed ... through the way of the plain--the Arabah or great
valley, from Elath ("trees") (the Ailah of the Greeks and Romans). The
site of it is marked by extensive mounds of rubbish.
Ezion-geber--now Akaba, both were within the territory of Edom; and
after making a circuit of its southeastern boundary, the Israelites
reached the border of Moab on the southeast of the Salt Sea. They had
been forbidden by divine command to molest the Moabites in any way; and
this special honor was conferred on that people not on their own
account, for they were very wicked, but in virtue of their descent from
Lot. (See on De 23:3). Their territory comprised the fine country on
the south, and partly on the north of the Arnon. They had won it by
their arms from the original inhabitants, the Emims, a race, terrible,
as their name imports, for physical power and stature (Ge 14:5), in
like manner as the Edomites had obtained their settlement by the
overthrow of the original occupiers of Seir, the Horims (Ge 14:6), who
were troglodytes, or dwellers in caves. Moses alluded to these
circumstances to encourage his countrymen to believe that God would
much more enable them to expel the wicked and accursed Canaanites. At
that time, however, the Moabites, having lost the greater part of their
possessions through the usurpations of Sihon, were reduced to the small
but fertile region between the Zered and the Arnon.
13. Now rise up, and get you over the brook Zered--The southern border
of Moab, Zered ("woody"), now Wady Ahsy, separates the modern district
of Kerak from Jebal, and, indeed, forms a natural division of the
country between the north and south. Ar, called in later times Rabbah,
was the capital of Moab and situated twenty-five miles south of the
Arnon on the banks of a small but shady stream, the Beni Hamed. It is
here mentioned as representative of the country dependent on it, a rich
and well-cultivated country, as appears from the numerous ruins of
cities, as well as from the traces of tillage still visible on the
fields.
16. all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the
people--The outbreak at Kadesh on the false report of the spies had
been the occasion of the fatal decree by which God doomed the whole
grown-up population to die in the wilderness [Nu 14:29]; but that
outbreak only filled up the measure of their iniquities. For that
generation, though not universally abandoned to heathenish and
idolatrous practices, yet had all along displayed a fearful amount of
ungodliness in the desert, which this history only hints at obscurely,
but which is expressly asserted elsewhere (Eze 20:25, 26; Am 5:25, 27;
Ac 7:42, 43).
19-37. when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon,
distress them not, nor meddle with them--The Ammonites, being kindred
to the Moabites, were, from regard to the memory of their common
ancestor, to remain undisturbed by the Israelites. The territory of
this people had been directly north from that of Moab. It extended as
far as the Jabbok, having been taken by them from a number of small
Canaanitish tribes, namely, the Zamzummins, a bullying, presumptuous
band of giants, as their name indicates; and the Avims, the aborigines
of the district extending from Hazerim or Hazeroth (El Hudhera) even
unto Azzah (Gaza), but of which they had been dispossessed by the
Caphtorim (Philistines), who came out of Caphtor (Lower Egypt) and
settled in the western coast of Palestine. The limits of the Ammonites
were now compressed; but they still possessed the mountainous region
beyond the Jabbok (Jos 11:2). What a strange insight does this
parenthesis of four verses give into the early history of Palestine!
How many successive wars of conquest had swept over its early
state--what changes of dynasty among the Canaanitish tribes had taken
place long prior to the transactions recorded in this history!
24-36. Rise ye up ... and pass over the river Arnon--At its mouth, this
stream is eighty-two feet wide and four deep. It flows in a channel
banked by perpendicular cliffs of sandstone. At the date of the
Israelitish migration to the east of the Jordan, the whole of the fine
country lying between the Arnon and the Jabbok including the
mountainous tract of Gilead, had been seized by the Amorites, who,
being one of the nations doomed to destruction (see De 7:2; 20:16),
were utterly exterminated. Their country fell by right of conquest into
the hands of the Israelites. Moses, however, considering this doom as
referring solely to the Amorite possessions west of Jordan, sent a
pacific message to Sihon, requesting permission to go through his
territories, which lay on the east of that river. It is always
customary to send messengers before to prepare the way; but the
rejection of Moses' request by Sihon and his opposition to the advance
of the Israelites (Nu 21:23; Jud 11:26) drew down on himself and his
Amorite subjects the predicted doom on the first pitched battlefield
with the Canaanites. It secured to Israel not only the possession of a
fine and pastoral country, but, what was of more importance to them, a
free access to the Jordan on the east.
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CHAPTER 3
De 3:1-20. Conquest of Og, King of Bashan.
1. we turned, and went up the way to Bashan--Bashan ("fruitful" or
"flat"), now El-Bottein, lay situated to the north of Gilead and
extended as far as Hermon. It was a rugged mountainous country,
valuable however for its rich and luxuriant pastures.
Og the king of Bashan came out against us--Without provocation, he
rushed to attack the Israelites, either disliking the presence of such
dangerous neighbors, or burning to avenge the overthrow of his friends
and allies.
2. The Lord said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all
his people, and his land, into thy hand--Og's gigantic appearance and
the formidable array of forces he will bring to the field, need not
discourage you; for, belonging to a doomed race, he is destined to
share the fate of Sihon [Nu 21:25].
3-8. Argob was the capital of a district in Bashan of the same name,
which, together with other fifty-nine cities in the same province, were
conspicuous for their lofty and fortified walls. It was a war of
extermination. Houses and cities were razed to the ground; all classes
of people were put to the sword; and nothing was saved but the cattle,
of which an immense amount fell as spoil into the hands of the
conquerors. Thus, the two Amorite kings and the entire population of
their dominions were extirpated. The whole country east of the
Jordan--first upland downs from the torrent of the Arnon on the south
to that of the Jabbok on the north; next the high mountain tract of
Gilead and Bashan from the deep ravine of Jabbok--became the possession
of the Israelites.
9. Hermon--now Jebel-Es-Sheick--the majestic hill on which the long and
elevated range of Anti-Lebanon terminates. Its summit and the ridges on
its sides are almost constantly covered with snow. It is not so much
one high mountain as a whole cluster of mountain peaks, the highest in
Palestine. According to the survey taken by the English Government
Engineers in 1840, they were about 9376 feet above the sea. Being a
mountain chain, it is no wonder that it should have received different
names at different points from the different tribes which lay along the
base--all of them designating extraordinary height: Hermon, the lofty
peak; "Sirion," or in an abbreviated form "Sion" (De 4:48), the
upraised, glittering; "Shenir," the glittering breastplate of ice.
11. only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of
giants--literally, "of Rephaim." He was not the last giant, but the
only living remnant in the trans-jordanic country (Jos 15:14), of a
certain gigantic race, supposed to be the most ancient inhabitants of
Palestine.
behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron--Although beds in the East
are with the common people nothing more than a simple mattress,
bedsteads are not unknown. They are in use among the great, who prefer
them of iron or other metals, not only for strength and durability, but
for the prevention of the troublesome insects which in warm climates
commonly infest wood. Taking the cubit at half a yard, the bedstead of
Og would measure thirteen and a half feet, so that as beds are usually
a little larger than the persons who occupy them, the stature of the
Amorite king may be estimated at about eleven or twelve feet; or he
might have caused his bed to be made much larger than was necessary, as
Alexander the Great did for each of his foot soldiers, to impress the
Indians with an idea of the extraordinary strength and stature of his
men [Le Clerc]. But how did Og's bedstead come to be in Rabbath, of the
children of Ammon? In answer to this question, it has been said, that
Og had, on the eve of engagement, conveyed it to Rabbath for safety. Or
it may be that Moses, after capturing it, may have sold it to the
Ammonites, who had kept it as an antiquarian curiosity till their
capital was sacked in the time of David. This is a most unlikely
supposition, and besides renders it necessary to consider the latter
clause of this verse as an interpolation inserted long after the time
of Moses. To avoid this, some eminent critics take the Hebrew word
rendered "bedstead" to mean "coffin." They think that the king of
Bashan having been wounded in battle, fled to Rabbath, where he died
and was buried; hence the dimensions of his "coffin" are given [Dathe,
Roos].
12, 13. this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer ... gave
I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites--The whole territory occupied
by Sihon was parcelled out among the pastoral tribes of Reuben and Gad.
It extended from the north bank of the Arnon to the south half of mount
Gilead--a small mountain ridge, now called Djelaad, about six or seven
miles south of the Jabbok, and eight miles in length. The northern
portion of Gilead and the rich pasture lands of Bashan--a large
province, consisting, with the exception of a few bleak and rocky
spots, of strong and fertile soil--was assigned to the half-tribe of
Manasseh.
14. Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob--The
original inhabitants of the province north of Bashan, comprising sixty
cities (De 3:4), not having been extirpated along with Og, this people
were afterwards brought into subjection by the energy of Jair. This
chief, of the tribe of Manasseh, in accordance with the pastoral habits
of his people, called these newly acquired towns by a name which
signifies "Jair's Bedouin Villages of Tents."
unto this day--This remark must evidently have been introduced by Ezra,
or some of the pious men who arranged and collected the books of Moses.
15. I gave Gilead unto Machir--It was only the half of Gilead (De 3:12,
13) which was given to the descendants of Machir, who was now dead.
16. from Gilead--that is, not the mountainous region, but the town
Ramoth-gilead,
even unto the river Arnon half the valley--The word "valley" signifies
a wady, either filled with water or dry, as the Arnon is in summer, and
thus the proper rendering of the passage will be--"even to the half or
middle of the river Arnon" (compare Jos 12:2). This prudent arrangement
of the boundaries was evidently made to prevent all disputes between
the adjacent tribes about the exclusive right to the water.
25. I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond
Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon--The natural and very earnest
wish of Moses to be allowed to cross the Jordan was founded on the idea
that the divine threatening might be conditional and revertible. "That
goodly mountain" is supposed by Jewish writers to have pointed to the
hill on which the temple was to be built (De 12:5; Ex 15:2). But
biblical scholars now, generally, render the words--"that goodly
mountain, even Lebanon," and consider it to be mentioned as typifying
the beauty of Palestine, of which hills and mountains were so prominent
a feature.
26. speak no more unto me of this matter--that is, My decree is
unalterable.
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CHAPTER 4
De 4:1-13. An Exhortation to Obedience.
1. hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I
teach you--By statutes were meant all ordinances respecting religion
and the rites of divine worship; and by judgments, all enactments
relative to civil matters. The two embraced the whole law of God.
2. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you--by the
introduction of any heathen superstition or forms of worship different
from those which I have appointed (De 12:32; Nu 15:39; Mt 15:9).
neither shall ye diminish aught from it--by the neglect or omission of
any of the observances, however trivial or irksome, which I have
prescribed. The character and provisions of the ancient dispensation
were adapted with divine wisdom to the instruction of that infant state
of the church. But it was only a temporary economy; and although God
here authorizes Moses to command that all its institutions should be
honored with unfailing observance, this did not prevent Him from
commissioning other prophets to alter or abrogate them when the end of
that dispensation was attained.
3, 4. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor ...
the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you--It appears that
the pestilence and the sword of justice overtook only the guilty in
that affair (Nu 25:1-9) while the rest of the people were spared. The
allusion to that recent and appalling judgment was seasonably made as a
powerful dissuasive against idolatry, and the fact mentioned was
calculated to make a deep impression on people who knew and felt the
truth of it.
5, 6. this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the
nations, which shall hear all these statutes--Moses predicted that the
faithful observance of the laws given them would raise their national
character for intelligence and wisdom. In point of fact it did do so;
for although the heathen world generally ridiculed the Hebrews for what
they considered a foolish and absurd exclusiveness, some of the most
eminent philosophers expressed the highest admiration of the
fundamental principle in the Jewish religion--the unity of God; and
their legislators borrowed some laws from the constitution of the
Hebrews.
7-9. what nation is there so great--Here he represents their privileges
and their duty in such significant and comprehensive terms, as were
peculiarly calculated to arrest their attention and engage their
interest. The former, their national advantages, are described (De 4:7,
8), and they were twofold: 1. God's readiness to hear and aid them at
all times; and 2. the excellence of that religion in which they were
instructed, set forth in the "statutes and judgments so righteous"
which the law of Moses contained. Their duty corresponding to these
pre-eminent advantages as a people, was also twofold: 1. their own
faithful obedience to that law; and 2. their obligation to imbue the
minds of the young and rising generation with similar sentiments of
reverence and respect for it.
10. the day that thou stoodest before the Lord ... in Horeb--The
delivery of the law from Sinai was an era never to be forgotten in the
history of Israel. Some of those whom Moses was addressing had been
present, though very young; while the rest were federally represented
by their parents, who in their name and for their interest entered into
the national covenant.
12. ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude--Although
articulate sounds were heard emanating from the mount, no form or
representation of the Divine Being who spoke was seen to indicate His
nature or properties according to the notions of the heathen.
De 4:14-40. A Particular Dissuasive against Idolatry.
15. Take ... good heed ... for ye saw no manner of similitude--The
extreme proneness of the Israelites to idolatry, from their position in
the midst of surrounding nations already abandoned to its seductions,
accounts for their attention being repeatedly drawn to the fact that
God did not appear on Sinai in any visible form; and an earnest
caution, founded on that remarkable circumstance, is given to beware,
not only of making representations of false gods, but also any fancied
representation of the true God.
16-19. Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image--The
things are here specified of which God prohibited any image or
representation to be made for the purposes of worship; and, from the
variety of details entered into, an idea may be formed of the extensive
prevalence of idolatry in that age. In whatever way idolatry
originated, whether from an intention to worship the true God through
those things which seemed to afford the strongest evidences of His
power, or whether a divine principle was supposed to reside in the
things themselves, there was scarcely an element or object of nature
but was deified. This was particularly the case with the Canaanites and
Egyptians, against whose superstitious practices the caution, no doubt,
was chiefly directed. The former worshipped Baal and Astarte, the
latter Osiris and Isis, under the figure of a male and a female. It was
in Egypt that animal-worship most prevailed, for the natives of that
country deified among beasts the ox, the heifer, the sheep, and the
goat, the dog, the cat, and the ape; among birds, the ibis, the hawk,
and the crane; among reptiles, the crocodile, the frog, and the beetle;
among fishes, all the fish of the Nile; some of these, as Osiris and
Isis, were worshipped over all Egypt, the others only in particular
provinces. In addition they embraced the Zabian superstition, the
adoration of the Egyptians, in common with that of many other people,
extending to the whole starry host. The very circumstantial details
here given of the Canaanitish and Egyptian idolatry were owing to the
past and prospective familiarity of the Israelites with it in all these
forms.
20. But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron
furnace--that is, furnace for smelting iron. A furnace of this kind is
round, sometimes thirty feet deep, and requiring the highest intensity
of heat. Such is the tremendous image chosen to represent the bondage
and affliction of the Israelites [Rosenmuller].
to be unto him a people of inheritance--His peculiar possession from
age to age; and therefore for you to abandon His worship for that of
idols, especially the gross and debasing system of idolatry that
prevails among the Egyptians, would be the greatest folly--the blackest
ingratitude.
26. I call heaven and earth to witness against you--This solemn form of
adjuration has been common in special circumstances among all people.
It is used here figuratively, or as in other parts of Scripture where
inanimate objects are called up as witnesses (De 32:1; Isa 1:2).
28. there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands--The compulsory
measures of their tyrannical conquerors would force them into idolatry,
so that their choice would become their punishment.
30. in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God--either
towards the destined close of their captivities, when they evinced a
returning spirit of repentance and faith, or in the age of Messiah,
which is commonly called "the latter days," and when the scattered
tribes of Israel shall be converted to the Gospel of Christ. The
occurrence of this auspicious event will be the most illustrious proof
of the truth of the promise made in De 4:31.
41-43. Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan--(See on Jos
20:7).
44-49. this is the law which Moses set before the children of
Israel--This is a preface to the rehearsal of the law, which, with the
addition of various explanatory circumstances, the following chapters
contain.
46. Beth-peor--that is, "house" or "temple of Peor." It is probable
that a temple of this Moabite idol stood in full view of the Hebrew
camp, while Moses was urging the exclusive claims of God to their
worship, and this allusion would be very significant if it were the
temple where so many of the Israelites had grievously offended.
49. The springs of Pisgah--more frequently, Ashdoth-pisgah (De 3:17;
Jos 12:3; 13:20), the roots or foot of the mountains east of the
Jordan.
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CHAPTER 5
De 5:1-29. A Commemoration of the Covenant in Horeb.
1. Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments--Whether this rehearsal
of the law was made in a solemn assembly, or as some think at a general
meeting of the elders as representatives of the people, is of little
moment; it was addressed either directly or indirectly to the Hebrew
people as principles of their peculiar constitution as a nation; and
hence, as has been well observed, "the Jewish law has no obligation
upon Christians, unless so much of it as given or commanded by Jesus
Christ; for whatever in this law is conformable to the laws of nature,
obliges us, not as given by Moses, but by virtue of an antecedent law
common to all rational beings" [Bishop Wilson].
3. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us--The
meaning is, "not with our fathers" only, "but with us" also, assuming
it to be "a covenant" of grace. It may mean "not with our fathers" at
all, if the reference is to the peculiar establishment of the covenant
of Sinai; a law was not given to them as to us, nor was the covenant
ratified in the same public manner and by the same solemn sanctions.
Or, finally, the meaning may be "not with our fathers" who died in the
wilderness, in consequence of their rebellion, and to whom God did not
give the rewards promised only to the faithful; but "with us," who
alone, strictly speaking, shall enjoy the benefits of this covenant by
entering on the possession of the promised land.
4. The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount--not in a visible
and corporeal form, of which there was no trace (De 4:12, 15), but
freely, familiarly, and in such a manner that no doubt could be
entertained of His presence.
5. I stood between the Lord and you at that time--as the messenger and
interpreter of thy heavenly King, bringing near two objects formerly
removed from each other at a vast distance, namely, God and the people
(Ga 3:19). In this character Moses was a type of Christ, who is the
only mediator between God and men (1Ti 2:5), the Mediator of a better
covenant (Heb 8:6; 9:15; 12:24).
to show you the word of the Lord--not the ten commandments--for they
were proclaimed directly by the Divine Speaker Himself, but the
statutes and judgments which are repeated in the subsequent portion of
this book.
6-20. I am the Lord thy God--The word "Lord" is expressive of authority
or dominion; and God, who by natural claim as well as by covenant
relation was entitled to exercise supremacy over His people Israel, had
a sovereign right to establish laws for their government. [See on Ex
20:2.] The commandments which follow are, with a few slight verbal
alterations, the same as formerly recorded (Ex 20:1-17), and in some of
them there is a distinct reference to that promulgation.
12. Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath
commanded thee--that is, keep it in mind as a sacred institution of
former enactment and perpetual obligation. [See on Ex 20:8].
14. that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as
thou--This is a different reason for the observance of the Sabbath from
what is assigned in Ex 20:8-11, where that day is stated to be an
appointed memorial of the creation. But the addition of another motive
for the observance does not imply any necessary contrariety to the
other; and it has been thought probable that, the commemorative design
of the institution being well known, the other reason was specially
mentioned on this repetition of the law, to secure the privilege of
sabbatic rest to servants, of which, in some Hebrew families, they had
been deprived. In this view, the allusion to the period of Egyptian
bondage (De 5:15), when they themselves were not permitted to observe
the Sabbath either as a day of rest or of public devotion, was
peculiarly seasonable and significant, well fitted to come home to
their business and bosoms.
16. that it may go well with thee--This clause is not in Exodus, but
admitted into Eph 6:3.
21. Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, ... house, his
field--An alteration is here made in the words (see Ex 20:17), but it
is so slight ("wife" being put in the first clause and "house" in the
second) that it would not have been worth while noticing it, except
that the interchange proves, contrary to the opinion of some eminent
critics, that these two objects are included in one and the same
commandment.
22. he added no more--(Ex 20:1). The pre-eminence of these ten
commandments was shown in God's announcing them directly: other laws
and institutions were communicated to the people through the
instrumentality of Moses.
23-28. And ... ye came near unto me--(See on Ex 20:19).
29. Oh, that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear
me--God can bestow such a heart, and has promised to give it, wherever
it is asked (Jer 32:40). But the wish which is here expressed on the
part of God for the piety and steadfast obedience of the Israelites did
not relate to them as individuals, so much as a nation, whose religious
character and progress would have a mighty influence on the world at
large.
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CHAPTER 6
De 6:1-25. Moses Exhorts Israel to Hear God and to Keep His
Commandments.
1-9. Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments,
which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them
... whither ye go to possess it--The grand design of all the
institutions prescribed to Israel was to form a religious people, whose
national character should be distinguished by that fear of the Lord
their God which would ensure their divine observance of His worship and
their steadfast obedience to His will. The basis of their religion was
an acknowledgment of the unity of God with the understanding and the
love of God in the heart (De 6:4, 5). Compared with the religious creed
of all their contemporaries, how sound in principle, how elevated in
character, how unlimited in the extent of its moral influence on the
heart and habits of the people! Indeed, it is precisely the same basis
on which rests the purer and more spiritual form of it which
Christianity exhibits (Mt 22:37; Mr 12:30; Lu 10:27). Moreover, to help
in keeping a sense of religion in their minds, it was commanded that
its great principles should be carried about with them wherever they
went, as well as meet their eyes every time they entered their homes. A
further provision was made for the earnest inculcation of them on the
minds of the young by a system of parental training, which was designed
to associate religion with all the most familiar and oft-recurring
scenes of domestic life. It is probable that Moses used the phraseology
in De 6:7 merely in a figurative way, to signify assiduous, earnest,
and frequent instruction; and perhaps he meant the metaphorical
language in De 6:8 to be taken in the same sense also. But as the
Israelites interpreted it literally, many writers suppose that a
reference was made to a superstitious custom borrowed from the
Egyptians, who wore jewels and ornamental trinkets on the forehead and
arm, inscribed with certain words and sentences, as amulets to protect
them from danger. These, it has been conjectured, Moses intended to
supersede by substituting sentences of the law; and so the Hebrews
understood him, for they have always considered the wearing of the
Tephilim, or frontlets, a permanent obligation. The form was as
follows: Four pieces of parchment, inscribed, the first with Ex
13:2-10; the second with Ex 13:11-16; the third with De 6:1-8; and the
fourth with De 11:18-21, were enclosed in a square case or box of tough
skin, on the side of which was placed the Hebrew letter (shin), and
bound round the forehead with a thong or ribbon. When designed for the
arms, those four texts were written on one slip of parchment, which, as
well as the ink, was carefully prepared for the purpose. With regard to
the other usage supposed to be alluded to, the ancient Egyptians had
the lintels and imposts of their doors and gates inscribed with
sentences indicative of a favorable omen [Wilkinson]; and this is still
the case, for in Egypt and other Mohammedan countries, the front doors
of houses (in Cairo, for instance) are painted red, white, and green,
bearing conspicuously inscribed upon them such sentences from the
Koran, as "God is the Creator," "God is one, and Mohammed is his
prophet." Moses designed to turn this ancient and favorite custom to a
better account and ordered that, instead of the former superstitious
inscriptions, there should be written the words of God, persuading and
enjoining the people to hold the laws in perpetual remembrance.
20-25. when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying--The directions
given for the instruction of their children form only an extension of
the preceding counsels.
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CHAPTER 7
De 7:1-26. All Communion with the Nations Forbidden.
1. the Hittites--This people were descended from Heth, the second son
of Canaan (Ge 10:15), and occupied the mountainous region about Hebron,
in the south of Palestine.
the Girgashites--supposed by some to be the same as the Gergesenes (Mt
8:28), who lay to the east of Lake Gennesareth; but they are placed on
the west of Jordan (Jos 24:11), and others take them for a branch of
the large family of the Hivites, as they are omitted in nine out of ten
places where the tribes of Canaan are enumerated; in the tenth they are
mentioned, while the Hivites are not.
the Amorites--descended from the fourth son of Canaan. They occupied,
besides their conquest on the Moabite territory, extensive settlements
west of the Dead Sea, in the mountains.
the Canaanites--located in Phoenicia, particularly about Tyre and
Sidon, and being sprung from the oldest branch of the family of Canaan,
bore his name.
the Perizzites--that is, villagers, a tribe who were dispersed
throughout the country and lived in unwalled towns.
the Hivites--who dwelt about Ebal and Gerizim, extending towards
Hermon. They are supposed to be the same as the Avims.
the Jebusites--resided about Jerusalem and the adjacent country.
seven nations greater and mightier than thou--Ten were formerly
mentioned (Ge 15:19-21). But in the lapse of near five hundred years,
it cannot be surprising that some of them had been extinguished in the
many intestine feuds that prevailed among those warlike tribes. It is
more than probable that some, stationed on the east of Jordan, had
fallen under the victorious arms of the Israelites.
2-6. thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make
no covenant with them--This relentless doom of extermination which God
denounced against those tribes of Canaan cannot be reconciled with the
attributes of the divine character, except on the assumption that their
gross idolatry and enormous wickedness left no reasonable hope of their
repentance and amendment. If they were to be swept away like the
antediluvians or the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, as incorrigible
sinners who had filled up the measure of their iniquities, it mattered
not to them in what way the judgment was inflicted; and God, as the
Sovereign Disposer, had a right to employ any instruments that pleased
Him for executing His judgments. Some think that they were to be
exterminated as unprincipled usurpers of a country which God had
assigned to the posterity of Eber and which had been occupied ages
before by wandering shepherds of that race, till, on the migration of
Jacob's family into Egypt through the pressure of famine, the
Canaanites overspread the whole land, though they had no legitimate